Jobs-housing imbalance, long commutes, short-term rentals, and affordability issues are all Santa Barbara County problems.
Each issue came up during the Feb. 14 Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors meeting, when the governing body reviewed the county’s 2023-31 Housing Element.
California requires local jurisdictions to look at housing needs every eight years and identify space to develop new housing units, which are outlined in each jurisdiction’s housing element. This cycle, the state’s Regional Housing Needs Allocation asks that Santa Barbara County build 5,664 new housing units in its unincorporated areas by 2031, a jump nearly eight times larger than last cycle’s 661 units.
During public comment on Feb. 14, People’s Self-Help Housing President and CEO Ken Trigueiro said that it’s necessary for the county to take on the increased number, and he wants to see the new housing element passed as efficiently and quickly as possible. The nonprofit is currently serving more than 10,000 residents and is shifting to helping residents with a wider range of income levels rather than just low or extremely low incomes.
“We’ve developed over 3,000 units here. Even though that’s an extreme contribution with a market value of over $1 billion, unfortunately that’s just a drop in the bucket for what we need locally,” Trigueiro said. “On behalf of those we serve, we hope you continue to support this, we need as many tools to make this happen. We hope you push this along for people who needed this housing yesterday.”
The county doesn’t have much of a choice in pushing this along as the state has grown intolerant of local jurisdictions not identifying sites for housing development, Planning and Development Director Lisa Plowman said. If the county doesn’t come into compliance with state requirements and deadlines, it could be met with legal action.
The Planning amd Development Department approached the board to review the housing element’s goals and programs, which identifies potential rezone sites, discusses tenant protection and fair housing services, highlights preserving affordable housing, and emphasizes employer-provided housing.
Second District Supervisor Laura Capps said she’d like to see the county follow suit with providing housing by speeding up the process for some of the current projects in the works.
“The main thing for me is for people to live where they work. I’m hearing from parents who live in Lompoc but their child is in Santa Barbara for school all day,” Capps said. “The goal we have in this document [is] encouraging employer housing, but there is not a lot of county property being discussed.”
Currently, a third of county employees live outside of Santa Barbara County, and director Plowman said there are some projects in the works to build county housing, but those wouldn’t be completed within the eight-year cycle—something the state wants to see.
“Preservation of housing stock for county employees is a conundrum. That is a really challenging thing that we are all dealing with, and I don’t have the silver bullet to that,” Plowman said. “Not only do our housing prices present a problem but it’s vacant housing sitting there and not being available for rent.”
Short-term rentals take up 18 to 23 percent of the housing stock in some neighborhoods and it’s impacting housing availability and cost, 3rd District Supervisor Joan Hartmann said. It’s something she’d like to see acknowledged as a challenge when it comes to building housing in the county.
“My biggest concern in Santa Barbara County is we’re going to build this, go through this pain and anguish, and it isn’t going to go for the people we need, the people who work here, and the people who can’t afford to live here,” Hartmann said. “That’s one issue I want front and center because the state needs to understand in communities like Santa Barbara, that’s a real issue.”
The housing element is now in a 30-day public review period where individuals can submit their comments, and then the county will submit the draft to the California Department of Community Services and Development for a 90-day review with hopes for element adoption in spring 2024.
This article appears in Feb 16-23, 2023.
