If you have a unit to rent, keep it vacant until after the March City Council meeting unless you’re willing for your private property to be registered, regulated, controlled and possibly confiscated by the government.
The Santa Barbara City Council voted 4-3 Tuesday to change rent control from the 5% state mandate down to 2%, which means this plan now goes to the Ordinance Committee for review.
The council’s March meeting is when the 2% will come back with a registry mandate for the council. Randy Rowse will then be mayor. He’ll be sworn in on Jan. 4.
Loudly object to the council’s planned Rental Unit Registry unless you want your private property and family life controlled by the government. This rental registry could be followed by a vacant bedroom registry in all private homes, if Mayor Pro Tem Oscar Gutierrez gets his way.
The March Vote could go 4-3 against the Registry and 2% rent control if Councilmember Alejandra Gutierrez remains against it. However, she likely will only be against the 2% rent control if the contrived COVID emergency is extended beyond March with more $52,000 checks issued to “illegal” family residents to pay rent as she stated at the meeting. (View the 1 minute clip of her stated position at Tuesday’s City Council meeting).
How many checks in what amounts were distributed in South County? The answer requires filing of a Public Records Act request and for us to ask our supervisors and council reps.
Federal universal basic income isn’t expected to be implemented until months after Build Back Better law is approved with funding and signed by President Joe Biden.
Be mindful that Santa Barbara City College is expected to recruit 4,000 tuition-paying out-of-district and foreign students to make up for enrollment decline revenue losses because local unvaccinated students and district residents are denied campus access. Where will they reside? How many units, and what density can our landlocked South County safely support? Think fire, El Niños, earthquakes, debris flow closures.
Forever flip-flopping Kristen Sneddon has her seat for five more years, unless recalled. She wants Beverly Hills rent control model adopted, which is apples and oranges. There’s the wealthy student population, as well as fewer rental units and subsidized units per capita, plus there’s the ability to relocate tenants across the street into the city Los Angeles. I did a HUD 202 elderly project there decades ago, and suggest Sneddon do more research.
Council members Oscar Gutierrez and Meghan Harmon are firmly for tight regulation and control of private property.
Fasten your seatbelts as the worse is yet to come in 2022. More ADUs will be built, and SB 9 lot splits will allow up to four units per single family lot. This Tuesday’s City Council meeting will determine SB 9 rules. Outcomes depend on your active participation or influence.
Denice Spangler Adams
The author lives in Montecito.
