In “Last Stand at LaCumbre,” the attorney for the Legal Aid Foundation is quoted as saying this case is “about who has a right to live in Santa Barbara.” No, this case is about property rights, something state and local governments continue to erode in their futile effort to satisfy the endless demand for housing in California.
Desire is not deserve. No one is entitled to a home in Santa Barbara anymore than one is entitled to a Lamborghini just because he or she desires one.
Housing here is affordable. If it weren’t, houses wouldn’t be selling and rentals would remain vacant.
What the people-packers are foisting on us is the notion that it is immoral or unjust not to provide housing for everyone who desires to live here, regardless of their ability to pay for it. Ultimately, that means others have to pay for it one way or the other — losing property rights and neighborhood ambience as misguided government mandates local communities to shoehorn in ever more housing, and underprice it, in a delusional attempt to make it affordable to all comers.
Every place has a safe carrying capacity. California has exceeded that about 20 million people ago. Water shortages, brown-outs, massive wildfires, overburdened infrastructure, degraded public schools, et al. It’s long past time for California to hang out the “No Vacancy” sign.