Housing Crisis Takes Spotlight for Santa Barbara City Council

Earlier this month, Santa Barbara City Council was scheduled to hear an update regarding the city’s Housing Crisis Task Force, an item that was intended to recap the results of more than a year’s worth of group meetings, community workshops, and interviews with experts from every corner of the housing industry.

But before the council could get into presentations and discussion about the committee’s findings, Councilmember Meagan Harmon suggested that — since Councilmember Mike Jordan was absent and she was leaving early to attend a California Coastal Commission hearing — the council should postpone the housing crisis report until all members were present.

Prior to the meeting, several community groups and residents had already gathered to speak on the item, and Harmon asked City Attorney Sarah Knecht if there was a way to allow for public comment on the matter while still delaying the staff presentation and council discussion to a later date.

While the council worked out a solution, Councilmember Oscar Gutierrez raised concerns over the information in the staff report, which he said didn’t include the committee’s findings and may require some changes before coming back to the full council. Councilmember Kristen Sneddon wanted to make sure that the discussion happened before the end of the year to allow outgoing Councilmember Alejandra Gutierrez to weigh in on the issue. 

“It sounds like there are substantive concerns or changes, or desires to rework the presentation with staff,” Councilmember Harmon said. “Given the importance of this item to the community … I think it makes sense to do what we can beforehand to get the report in shape and bring it back so we can have a truly substantive discussion with the full council. To do otherwise would simply be to set us up for a lot of confusion, and this is just too important.”

Before adjourning to return to discussion on December 3, the council took public comment from more than a dozen community members. Some were tenants struggling to deal with unregulated rent hikes, and some were community advocates who said that working-class people were being priced out of town. Others represented business organizations and mom-and-pop landlords who worried that too many regulations would cause a host of unintended consequences for property owners, which could eventually end up costing tenants more in the long run.

Santa Barbara Tenants Union Cofounder Stanley Tzankov said that he was also concerned with “the way items were prioritized” in the staff report, which left out the “broadly popular” recommendations for rent stabilization and a rental registry.  

Next Tuesday, December 3, the council will bring the item back with an updated staff report, and during that upcoming hearing each of the three members of the Housing Crisis Task Force will have an opportunity to present their detailed recommendations for council consideration.