By Jorge Casuso
June 24, 2026 -- Former Mayor Sue Himmelrich -- a longtime champion of tenants rights who has helped spearhead two local tax measures for affordable housing -- is seeking a seat on Santa Monica's Rent Control Board.
After serving on the Council for eight years, two as mayor, Himmelrich said she is running for a seat on the five-member board to protect rent control from developers and "allegedly pro-housing political actors."
"I am disturbed by recent attacks on the very existence of rent control from not only landlords and developers, but also from allegedly pro-housing political actors who value quantity of housing over the safety and security of tenants," Himmelrich said in the local Democratic Club's candidate questionnaire.
An attorney with the Western Center on Law & Poverty, Himmelrich said her top issue is "assuring that the board remains comprised of the most qualified and most committed rent-control and tenants’ rights advocates."
"I believe my skill set and track record sets me apart from any other candidate," she added.
Himmelrich told the Democratic Club she intends to self-fund her campaign "as I did when successfully running for City Council in 2014 and 2018."
While she will not refuse donations, Himmelrich said she won't take contributions from "corporations or real estate developers/landlords (including my brothers who develop real estate in Maryland and Florida and are commercial landlords)."
Also running for three open seats on the Rent Board on November 3 are incumbent Kurt Gonska; Brad Ewing, a rent control tenant; Heather Thomason, a writer and former renter, and Soledad Marcial, a student and homemaker who grew up in Santa Monica.
The 2022 race for two seats, as well as the 2024 race for three seats, drew the same number of candidates as there were open seats.
In the Democratic Club questionnaire, Himmelrich elaborated on her concern that pro-housing political actors are "overlooking less wealthy residents."
She pointed to the original versions of SB 79, a State bill that boosts major housing developments near public transit stops, and AB 1740, which originally exempted multi-family housing from California Coastal Commission review.
Such "reckless" bills "threaten rent control housing and the purposes behind rent control in Santa Monica and beyond because, in their rush to expedite new market rate housing willy-nilly, lawmakers ignore the situation on the ground," Himmelrich said.
"Particularly in highly desirable and resourced communities like Santa Monica, the rush to create more market rate housing has overlooked less wealthy residents who make their homes in housing made affordable because of long term tenancies in older housing stock that would become more attractive for redevelopment under these laws."
Himmelrich said the "single biggest challenge to keeping tenants in their homes in Santa Monica is affordability," and called her position on tenant displacement "inflexible."
"(T)enants should never be displaced from their homes unless absolutely necessary for public safety reasons," she wrote in the questionnaire.
"There is sufficient room for new market-rate development along the boulevards and in downtown, as our housing plans always contemplated."
As a Councilmember, Himmelrich pushed for the use of City-owned sites to build affordable housing and supported and helped fund Measure GS-GSH in 2016 and Measure GS in 2022, ballot tax measures "that sought to prevent tenant displacement and homelessness."
The two measures, Himmelrich said, have generated at least $60 million to fund tenant-related services and build affordable housing, and at least another $60 million to fund local public schools.