These units are not on the short-term rental list — yet.
Michael Mills has a reputation in Ocean Beach among our renter population. He owns over 300 rental units exclusively within OB, and is purchasing more.
These are all multi-family structures ranging from 2 to 37 units.
He is a convicted slumlord, and was forced by the court to turn over management of his rentals to a 3rd party. (For more background on Michael Mills, see this Rag article from 2016.) Here’s a quote:
Mills owns a lot of property in Ocean Beach – many rental units. And he has a long history buying up properties, raising rents, and maintaining sub-standard living conditions.
In fact, back in 1998, a judge sentenced Mills to a year in jail after he pleaded no contest to 10 charges of maintaining substandard rental properties in Ocean Beach. The judge also placed Mills on three years probation, and one of his conditions of probation was to hire a professional management company to bring his properties up to code. At the sentencing, the Deputy City Attorney hailed the victory over the slumlord, particularly since many of his tenants were low-income families with children. S
In 2017-2018, no evidence of short term rental activity was found at his properties, except for some apparent home-shares by tenants.
Recently, some of his tenants had leases terminated in order to convert their units to a short-term rentals. Research of property records and the city’s STR database reveals the extent of his transition into the short-term-rental business.
And this all appears to be legal under the new ordinance, assuming he lists a different host name on each license.
Mills owned parcels: 44
Total # dwelling units: 339
% in Ocean Beach: 100%
Short Term Rental Licenses: 127
Active Airbnb listings: 45
Between 2017 and 2023, Mills sold 12 properties (53 dwelling units). Mills purchased 14 properties (82 dwelling units). 53 of the new purchases now have STR licenses.
Mills Properties with STR licenses = 127 dwelling units: Renters on this list have already had lease terminated or will very soon. (Includes all units at address unless otherwise noted.)
2069 Abbott
2114 Abbott
2126 Abbott
2128 Abbott
2104-2106 Abbott
5108-5110 Brighton
5114-5114.5 Brighton
2219-2223 Cable
4818 Long Branch (1 of 4 units)
5053 Long Branch
5127 Long Branch
5107-5111 Long Branch
4891 Lotus
4973-4979 Narragansett
5101, 5107 Narragansett (15 of 16 units)
4918-4924.5 Santa Monica
5076 Saratoga
5109-5119 Voltaire
5188 W Point Loma
5113-5123 W Point Loma
(The uplist includes 2 properties (12 units) where they applied for a TOT certificate. They haven’t obtained a STR License yet on those.)
In case you’re interested:
Mills Properties without STR licenses = 224 dwelling units There is no evidence that tenants on this list will be terminated for conversion to a short term rental, but he may in the future.
4865 Brighton
5025 Brighton
5050 Brighton
5053 Brighton
5057 Brighton
5116-5118 Brighton
5026 Cape May
4976 Long Branch
5025 Long Branch
5039 Long Branch
5040 Long Branch
5047 Long Branch
4657 Muir
4843 Niagara
4851 Niagara
4955 Niagara
5034 Niagara
4930 Santa Monica
5074-5080 Santa Monica
2137 Spray
4865 Voltaire
4876 Voltaire
5033 Voltaire
4682 W Point Loma
4686 W Point Loma
4690 W Point Loma
4912 W Point Loma
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Nobody should own that much of our community. Sounds like a despicable human being that has leveraged his wealth to be in charge of people’s shelter during a housing crisis. Chalk this up to the excesses of capitalism.