Santa Barbara County Supervisors Pass Locals-First Marketing Requirements for New Housing

Ordinance Requires Developers Building New Housing to Conduct 12-Week Marketing Program Targeting Locals

Planning Director Lisa Plowman said the county was at the forefront when it comes to local governments creating local-first marketing programs for market-rate units. | Credit: Courtesy County of Santa Barbara

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Santa Barbara County’s Board of Supervisors approved a locals-first marketing for developers of new market-rate housing in the South Coast and Santa Ynez areas. The new ordinance mandates that developers target local renters or buyers for 12 weeks before expanding their marketing campaigns. It also requires developers to report on the number of locals in their residences once their projects reach 90 percent occupancy.

The program’s goal, county staff said, is to increase housing options for the local workforce. Data from the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments indicates that people may not have the opportunity to live where they work: 2024 reported that 18 percent of work trips destined for South County started outside the region. Santa Barbara’s prices remain high, and its vacancy rate remains low.

County Planning introduced the program to the board at the April 21 meeting, where Planning Director Lisa Plowman said the county was at the forefront when it comes to local governments creating local-first marketing programs for market-rate units.

As originally presented, the program would have required developers to create and complete a three-week marketing plan aimed at locals. That marketing program would have needed to include advertisements in a local newspaper and posts on social media for six weeks, and outreach to local employers, housing organizations, and jurisdictions.

At that meeting, 2nd District Supervisor Laura Capps said the program requirement needed a longer timeline.

“I have a background in communication and marketing and any standard marketing plan is six to 18 months,” Capps said, adding that the proposed timeline would barely “scratch the surface” and reach the local public.

The board then voted to extend the marketing plan timeline to 12 weeks and to include the Santa Ynez area, as per 3rd District Supervisor Joan Hartmann’s request.

This Tuesday, Plowman said she was bringing the program back for a first reading again as a precaution, given the changes. The program’s language now reflected the expanded local-first marketing area and timeline.

Capps asked the County Planning Department whether the county could collect data on how many locals were living in these new projects, after they reached a certain level of capacity.

“That is possible, and actually it’s not a bad idea,” Planning Director Plowman said. She said a good check-in point would be at 90 percent occupancy.

“We could get data about how many of the tenants are from a local source, essentially.”

The marketing program will come across the supervisors’ desk again on the administrative agenda on May 12. Supervisors Hartmann and Bob Nelson were absent from the vote.