The real problem with housing is the Santa Barbara City Council and its focus on tourism and tourist dollars.
Santa Barbara suffers from “over-tourism,” and locals, generation after generation, are forced out of the community due to the policy to constantly attract new tourists. Some buy here, and there you have it, locals are priced out of their hometown markets. Over-tourism has happened in many nice areas. In essence, we as a community have asked the City Council to fix the problem they created themselves over the past five decades. As long as our town relies on tourism dollars, tourists will price locals out of the housing market.