Did a study of local NGO’s. In Santa Barbara there’s over 1,400 NGOs taking in a total of about $7B with a B billion/year. Seemed impossible but it was a government report.
Maybe this tsunami of cash explains the endless funding for lefty causes here and nationwide. And explains the hefty employment income of thousands of liberal crusaders as NGO admins.
They all need housing, and at an average of $130k for an NGO administrator, there goes any cheap housing. Working people are now competing with highly paid NGO’s for workforce housing. Those NGO salaries reflect the cost of living, not the cost of producing.. Whereas actual employees of a real business must produce something of value for their employers. Or the organization goes under.
No such problems for the NGO’s. It’s tax free money, free local publicity, and no pesky audits or need to prove worth. They exist solely on the perception of community worth.
This gets to my second point - That is our tax code gives breaks to these NGO’s. So as noted, their properties pay less in taxes, their donors get tax breaks and the direct point is .. they produce nothing of value while taking up valuable office and housing resources.
Conclusion - What could be done? Investigate these high flying NGO’s.
Are they strictly adhering to their 501C3 tax requirements.
Are they actually remaining politically neutral.
Are they paying their CEO’s exorbitant salaries while providing little actual service?
Grand juries can investigate these institutions. And maybe that would free up some housing.
Thanks, Tom. Your research is worthy of an entire separate column for this particular jobs/housing issue, along with giving all of us a chance for a much fuller discussion.
Who exactly is benefiting from this demand for "extra housing"? Who is screaming "housing crisis" the loudest. Has it been just a random luck of the draw to be on a housing waiting list, or has it been calculated allocation to a favored few facilitated by insiders.
You identified a new housing constituency -NGO's- which I had no idea was so large in this community. And it does make a lot of sense collectively, they do have an inside track into the local power structure.
I was hoping we were providing housing for more trades people or health care support workers. We have a lot of learn about this "housing crisis". Let alone, how attempts to solve can ever be measured for success.
What are the demographics of those intended to be served; and who in fact makes up the demographics of those actually served. And if they never leave once they secure housing , how quickly do we find ourselves right smack dab into another "housing crisis"
Who decides which NGO gets money? I have heard that NGO's were fabricated from nothing to receive "climate" money from the inflation reduction act. I believe Stacey Abrams was involved in one of these frauds. Apparently momma NGO gets a large grant and distributes it to all the little baby NGO's who may distribute it further each taking a bit of the action until all the money is gone and there is no accountability for anything getting done. It smells like a close cousin of money laundering. If I formed an NGO dedicated to inculcating a greater appreciation for Donald Trump here on the central coast could I get money? How about a study related to how sea level rise disproportionately affects disadvantaged groups? These NGO's should be investigated but how would an investigation be initiated? Criminals don't typically investigate themselves.
DOGE has been the first step to start looking and listing. Then case by case evaluation. Whomever controls the funding, in fact controls the "investigation" into its continued credit worthiness.
Demanding to live in an area one cannot afford is a choice. A choice that comes with known consequences, which primarily is learning how to live in a high cost area at one's own expense. Buck up and accept those consequences.
Those that can afford to live in high-cost areas have consequences too, which also must be accepted. Primarily is the loss of easy access to exploitive low-wage support services. Buck up, and accept those consequences too. Provide your own work-arounds.
The more recent mentality of government enforcing a do-good mentality towards others, so everyone has a roof over their head, is indeed impractical and can impact the property investments (home or rental) homeowners seek for long term planning. This alone should be a reason for ousting the local government for those that actually work for a living.
People don’t demand to live in a place they can’t afford , but yes, they can make that choice. Some people are victims of circumstance. You move into affordable housing, and your rent is raised, which is to be expected, but then before you know it, your rent has doubled, and even tripled in some cases. So you look for affordable housing but they want security deposit, first month and last months rent. It’s not easy to move just like that, sometimes the only affordable housing is not the safest.
I feel for those people that can afford to live in high cost areas, not being able to exploit the low wage service people who can’t afford to live in their area, now they have to go to Employment agencies and have to pay a higher wage for people who can tend to their comfort.
They started in the 60s giving money to poor demographics which bought them the black vote after they repeatedly voted against every civil rights act in history.
They don’t want equality, they want servants dependent upon them.
Why is it that the DNC run schools cannot educate minorities?
It’s a choice.
Rockefeller said he needs workers, and that influenced the education system through all the decades.
The elite tell you to drive electric, don’t fly, carpool, the beach front will be gone in 10 years.
Meanwhile, laughing at you, the flu around in private jets to their beach houses.
It’s a “good old boys” club and you’re not in it. You may not be at the bottom, but you are definitely not part of their people.
Politicians like trained seals getting payoffs try to get in, but they are also servants of the system.
Vital information for all that live locally and are concerned about our standard of living. I lived in LA/Orange County years ago, and trust me, this is the last thing we need here.
My kids, who were born and raised here, left years ago in search of better opportunities. I suspect many families experiences are the same. Those classmates of my kids who remain locally, continue to struggle and live with their parents.
It confuses me as to why County officials haven’t tapped into existing communities for housing start ups. Local communities such as; Los Alamos, Vandenberg Village, Mission Hills, Orcutt, Guadalupe and Carpinteria seem to be logical places for development, rather than more expensive areas such as SB and Goleta. These areas could be further served by access to public transportation to accommodate increased housing and facilitate commuters.
BTW, why is it County officials have been mum about the numerous land grabs throughout the area in the name of not-for-profit land trusts involving thousands of acres?
Clearly, employers such as Yardi and Cottage Hospital have built their own housing for their employees. The answer to our housing crisis is NOT solved by converting retail space or County property in order to pave over our community.
It appears the right to never commute to one's employment ranks right up there with the First Amendment and the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Our jobs/housing ratio went way out of whack a few decades ago. Including the education-industrial complex student loan debacle which removed a steady source of short-term, transitory, low-skill employment (college kids) from the labor pool.
Time to take a new look at the local jobs/housing ratios without the current built-in partisan biases driving this "housing crisis" mentality, that also belongs in the same scrap heap along with the "climate crisis".
We need to be asking the question of the local liberal machine; why have our high paying industrial job base been replaced by not-for-profits? It seems NFP’s has become the number one employer in SB County! That accounts for 1 in 7 properties paying NO property tax by virtue of NFP status? This is NOT sustainable and NOT fair to our young people who grew up here and want to raise a family.
We have become a sanctuary for the rich and bums by social design, concocted by the one party system.
People in hell want ice water, right? On what basis do we owe people who can’t pay to live here housing, affordable or otherwise? You can imagine the squawk if this ‘mandate’ happened in Bev Hills.
The Commie-Dems are at it again. Like Kurt Vonnegut’s Harrison Bergeron - everyone is made “equal” by handicapping the strong, smart, or beautiful.
Thank you, Andy, as always, another fact backed essay.
There is an evil state senator from San Francisco (Scott Wiener) who is largely responsible for the insane state laws that override local planning and mandate density is single family neighborhoods.
Mike, Santa Barbara, a Charter City, is EXEMPT from state mandates. We elect weak, complicit leaders. The City has no legal mandate to build housing. Huntington Beach pushes back. Voters there elect informed leaders. It’s nearly impossible here to elect business and politically informed candidates because about 60% of voters are fiscally dependent or wanting of their government pay.
Applaud Pat McElroy and actively support the moderate and fiscally conservative coalition formed to elect Mayor Rowse.
Santa Barbara Doesn't Have a Housing Crisis — It Has a Transportation Crisis
At its core, the issue Santa Barbara faces is not a shortage of housing, but a lack of reliable regional transportation. The true solution lies not in overbuilding and fundamentally altering the character of our community, but in investing in a dependable and frequent Metrolink service—just as many other cities have successfully done.
We propose a robust rail system extending from Moorpark to Santa Maria, with strategic stops in Camarillo, Ventura, Carpinteria, Santa Barbara, Goleta, the Lompoc junction, Buellton, and Los Alamos. This route would connect key residential and employment hubs, significantly easing commuter strain without the need for extensive new development.
Such a system would allow the local workforce to continue living in more affordable communities while maintaining access to jobs in Santa Barbara. It would also help preserve the charm and natural beauty that make Santa Barbara so desirable for both residents and visitors.
Enhancing transportation—rather than overbuilding—is the sustainable path forward.
How about a new monorail track placed down the middle of our freeway systems. Have Elon build it on a cost plus basis, and task Gov Newsom to remove entangling regulations. Problem solved.
Once upon a time I remember when Mayor Sam Yorty (three terms as the 37th Mayor of Los Angeles from 1961 to 1973) ran on a platform with two main ideas: no more separating trash to recycle it, and REMOVE all the Red Car rail lines that ran down the middle of the freeways.
Reliable regional transportation sounds great on the surface, but any such "big buck" wishful thinking project is most likely to end up in the "money bucket" pockets of politicians. Haven't we discovered yet that local politicians are incapable of completing a project where the money is earmarked? They shift funds to what THEY want, not what WE want.
The tracks are allready there. Just need coordinating with the track owners and the Metrolink cars and train egineers. Much less cost than ruining Santa Barbara!
OK, using existing tracks. When I think of modern-day train engineers I think of pot smoking and careless "engineering" when traveling down the tracks. I had a friend that would never fly and only took the train on business trips. One time he was on a train in a big accident in New York. It does take quite a bit of organizing transportation from the main city drop-offs to the remote locations.
Paul- Are service workers willing to commute? Those I know say they’re ‘entitled’ to live in Santa Barbara, one of the most expensive communities in the country ‘just because’. It’s a ‘right to live where you were raised’; and ‘why should we be forced to commute?’. Generous Philanthropist Richard Berti advocated for and offered to donate millions toward a rail from Buellton to SB, with future link from Lompoc to Buellton. Community leaders rejected it.
Let’s acknowledge our city and leaders are ignorant or stupid, and they’re pushing the socialist agenda to destroy Santa Barbara County with their NGOs staffed by their friend and family networks . Turn off the money: STOP DONATING. Cut funding to government affiliates.
How do we fund a local DOGE? Are there enough accountants to hire to analyze government, and government funded NPOs/ NGOs?
Transparent California is your friend when it comes to discovering these ripe employment opportunities. Fire services seems to always rank the highest, then police coming in close to education administration, with paid release time for those also becoming employee union representatives .
Alan Hancock community college in Santa Maria, has a Fire Technology program.
Probably the best return on a two year college education out there. Risks and hazards acknowledged, but that is why there is an in depth training program and safety regulations and protools to protect fire personnel.
Low cost program, open to all. Along with several other community colleges in this state offering similar programs. Marine Diving Technology at SBCC has employers lining up to offer $100K starting salary jobs even before graduation. Right in our own backyard.
I understand that disability fraud is rampant within the fire and police departments. Apparently, disability claims from these professions receive little scrutiny.
Andy is spot on, once again. Until Santa Barbara County residents (and Californian's) vote out the Democrat's (Marxist's) that have hijacked our beautiful county (and state) we will continue our downward slide into the abyss.
Charter cities can adopt laws regarding municipal affairs that differ from state statutes, as long as they remain consistent with the US and California Constitutions. There are 125 charter cities out of California's 478 cities.
Why not pushback on Sacramento? Some charter cities have argued they are exempt from certain housing mandates, particularly those they claim infringe on local land use or zoning authority. A notable case involved Senate Bill 9 (SB 9), which allows duplexes and lot splits in single-family zones. In 2024, a Los Angeles Superior Court ruling (by Judge Curtis Kin) found SB 9 unconstitutional as applied to five charter cities (Redondo Beach, Carson, Torrance, Whittier, and Del Mar), arguing the law wasn’t narrowly tailored to advance affordable housing and thus improperly overrode charter city autonomy. However, this ruling was narrow, focusing on the law’s wording and its link to “affordable” housing, and it didn’t broadly exempt charter cities from all housing mandates. The ruling’s scope (whether it applies to all charter cities or just the plaintiffs) remains unclear.
When SB County shut down oil drilling, many high paying jobs were lost and families broken apart! The revenue benefits to local business also lost.
Workers were forced to commute via plane to Lake Charles and elsewhere in Louisiana and Texas. Our communities lost valued volunteer leadership at schools, coaching sports teams, and much more. Eventually these many families sold their homes moved away to keep their nuclear family together. An unacknowledged, huge loss to our county.
Over 500 major companies, many tech related, have left CA since 2018 due to regulations and the inability to hire in one of the most unaffordable places in America. If I could post a chart here, I'd show you that Texas is a few years away from becoming the new Silicon Valley.
I sat on hiring panels at Naval Base Ventura County. Let's say a young person graduates from a UC with a degree in Cyber. We can offer them 70k to start in the Government. Meanwhile, a private tech company in Austin can offer them 110K to start, affordable housing within driving distance, less cost of living, etc...and considering all of them are already in the hole with $40k in average student loan debt...it's a no-brainer.
We are in a death spiral of no industry with competitive wages and unaffordable living. The median home cost is now 14.3x the median family income in SB County. The national average is 5.4x. We are past due for a change from the elected cabal ruining this area.
On the Effects of NGO’s - Local Housing
Did a study of local NGO’s. In Santa Barbara there’s over 1,400 NGOs taking in a total of about $7B with a B billion/year. Seemed impossible but it was a government report.
Maybe this tsunami of cash explains the endless funding for lefty causes here and nationwide. And explains the hefty employment income of thousands of liberal crusaders as NGO admins.
They all need housing, and at an average of $130k for an NGO administrator, there goes any cheap housing. Working people are now competing with highly paid NGO’s for workforce housing. Those NGO salaries reflect the cost of living, not the cost of producing.. Whereas actual employees of a real business must produce something of value for their employers. Or the organization goes under.
No such problems for the NGO’s. It’s tax free money, free local publicity, and no pesky audits or need to prove worth. They exist solely on the perception of community worth.
This gets to my second point - That is our tax code gives breaks to these NGO’s. So as noted, their properties pay less in taxes, their donors get tax breaks and the direct point is .. they produce nothing of value while taking up valuable office and housing resources.
Conclusion - What could be done? Investigate these high flying NGO’s.
Are they strictly adhering to their 501C3 tax requirements.
Are they actually remaining politically neutral.
Are they paying their CEO’s exorbitant salaries while providing little actual service?
Grand juries can investigate these institutions. And maybe that would free up some housing.
Thanks, Tom. Your research is worthy of an entire separate column for this particular jobs/housing issue, along with giving all of us a chance for a much fuller discussion.
Who exactly is benefiting from this demand for "extra housing"? Who is screaming "housing crisis" the loudest. Has it been just a random luck of the draw to be on a housing waiting list, or has it been calculated allocation to a favored few facilitated by insiders.
You identified a new housing constituency -NGO's- which I had no idea was so large in this community. And it does make a lot of sense collectively, they do have an inside track into the local power structure.
I was hoping we were providing housing for more trades people or health care support workers. We have a lot of learn about this "housing crisis". Let alone, how attempts to solve can ever be measured for success.
What are the demographics of those intended to be served; and who in fact makes up the demographics of those actually served. And if they never leave once they secure housing , how quickly do we find ourselves right smack dab into another "housing crisis"
Who decides which NGO gets money? I have heard that NGO's were fabricated from nothing to receive "climate" money from the inflation reduction act. I believe Stacey Abrams was involved in one of these frauds. Apparently momma NGO gets a large grant and distributes it to all the little baby NGO's who may distribute it further each taking a bit of the action until all the money is gone and there is no accountability for anything getting done. It smells like a close cousin of money laundering. If I formed an NGO dedicated to inculcating a greater appreciation for Donald Trump here on the central coast could I get money? How about a study related to how sea level rise disproportionately affects disadvantaged groups? These NGO's should be investigated but how would an investigation be initiated? Criminals don't typically investigate themselves.
DOGE has been the first step to start looking and listing. Then case by case evaluation. Whomever controls the funding, in fact controls the "investigation" into its continued credit worthiness.
Demanding to live in an area one cannot afford is a choice. A choice that comes with known consequences, which primarily is learning how to live in a high cost area at one's own expense. Buck up and accept those consequences.
Those that can afford to live in high-cost areas have consequences too, which also must be accepted. Primarily is the loss of easy access to exploitive low-wage support services. Buck up, and accept those consequences too. Provide your own work-arounds.
The more recent mentality of government enforcing a do-good mentality towards others, so everyone has a roof over their head, is indeed impractical and can impact the property investments (home or rental) homeowners seek for long term planning. This alone should be a reason for ousting the local government for those that actually work for a living.
People don’t demand to live in a place they can’t afford , but yes, they can make that choice. Some people are victims of circumstance. You move into affordable housing, and your rent is raised, which is to be expected, but then before you know it, your rent has doubled, and even tripled in some cases. So you look for affordable housing but they want security deposit, first month and last months rent. It’s not easy to move just like that, sometimes the only affordable housing is not the safest.
I feel for those people that can afford to live in high cost areas, not being able to exploit the low wage service people who can’t afford to live in their area, now they have to go to Employment agencies and have to pay a higher wage for people who can tend to their comfort.
You hit the mark, good article.
What is the Democrat goal?
To make everyone dependent upon the government.
They started in the 60s giving money to poor demographics which bought them the black vote after they repeatedly voted against every civil rights act in history.
They don’t want equality, they want servants dependent upon them.
Why is it that the DNC run schools cannot educate minorities?
It’s a choice.
Rockefeller said he needs workers, and that influenced the education system through all the decades.
The elite tell you to drive electric, don’t fly, carpool, the beach front will be gone in 10 years.
Meanwhile, laughing at you, the flu around in private jets to their beach houses.
It’s a “good old boys” club and you’re not in it. You may not be at the bottom, but you are definitely not part of their people.
Politicians like trained seals getting payoffs try to get in, but they are also servants of the system.
Vital information for all that live locally and are concerned about our standard of living. I lived in LA/Orange County years ago, and trust me, this is the last thing we need here.
My kids, who were born and raised here, left years ago in search of better opportunities. I suspect many families experiences are the same. Those classmates of my kids who remain locally, continue to struggle and live with their parents.
It confuses me as to why County officials haven’t tapped into existing communities for housing start ups. Local communities such as; Los Alamos, Vandenberg Village, Mission Hills, Orcutt, Guadalupe and Carpinteria seem to be logical places for development, rather than more expensive areas such as SB and Goleta. These areas could be further served by access to public transportation to accommodate increased housing and facilitate commuters.
BTW, why is it County officials have been mum about the numerous land grabs throughout the area in the name of not-for-profit land trusts involving thousands of acres?
Clearly, employers such as Yardi and Cottage Hospital have built their own housing for their employees. The answer to our housing crisis is NOT solved by converting retail space or County property in order to pave over our community.
It appears the right to never commute to one's employment ranks right up there with the First Amendment and the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Our jobs/housing ratio went way out of whack a few decades ago. Including the education-industrial complex student loan debacle which removed a steady source of short-term, transitory, low-skill employment (college kids) from the labor pool.
Time to take a new look at the local jobs/housing ratios without the current built-in partisan biases driving this "housing crisis" mentality, that also belongs in the same scrap heap along with the "climate crisis".
We need to be asking the question of the local liberal machine; why have our high paying industrial job base been replaced by not-for-profits? It seems NFP’s has become the number one employer in SB County! That accounts for 1 in 7 properties paying NO property tax by virtue of NFP status? This is NOT sustainable and NOT fair to our young people who grew up here and want to raise a family.
We have become a sanctuary for the rich and bums by social design, concocted by the one party system.
People in hell want ice water, right? On what basis do we owe people who can’t pay to live here housing, affordable or otherwise? You can imagine the squawk if this ‘mandate’ happened in Bev Hills.
The Commie-Dems are at it again. Like Kurt Vonnegut’s Harrison Bergeron - everyone is made “equal” by handicapping the strong, smart, or beautiful.
Thank you, Andy, as always, another fact backed essay.
There is an evil state senator from San Francisco (Scott Wiener) who is largely responsible for the insane state laws that override local planning and mandate density is single family neighborhoods.
Mike, Santa Barbara, a Charter City, is EXEMPT from state mandates. We elect weak, complicit leaders. The City has no legal mandate to build housing. Huntington Beach pushes back. Voters there elect informed leaders. It’s nearly impossible here to elect business and politically informed candidates because about 60% of voters are fiscally dependent or wanting of their government pay.
Applaud Pat McElroy and actively support the moderate and fiscally conservative coalition formed to elect Mayor Rowse.
Santa Barbara Doesn't Have a Housing Crisis — It Has a Transportation Crisis
At its core, the issue Santa Barbara faces is not a shortage of housing, but a lack of reliable regional transportation. The true solution lies not in overbuilding and fundamentally altering the character of our community, but in investing in a dependable and frequent Metrolink service—just as many other cities have successfully done.
We propose a robust rail system extending from Moorpark to Santa Maria, with strategic stops in Camarillo, Ventura, Carpinteria, Santa Barbara, Goleta, the Lompoc junction, Buellton, and Los Alamos. This route would connect key residential and employment hubs, significantly easing commuter strain without the need for extensive new development.
Such a system would allow the local workforce to continue living in more affordable communities while maintaining access to jobs in Santa Barbara. It would also help preserve the charm and natural beauty that make Santa Barbara so desirable for both residents and visitors.
Enhancing transportation—rather than overbuilding—is the sustainable path forward.
How about a new monorail track placed down the middle of our freeway systems. Have Elon build it on a cost plus basis, and task Gov Newsom to remove entangling regulations. Problem solved.
Once upon a time I remember when Mayor Sam Yorty (three terms as the 37th Mayor of Los Angeles from 1961 to 1973) ran on a platform with two main ideas: no more separating trash to recycle it, and REMOVE all the Red Car rail lines that ran down the middle of the freeways.
Reliable regional transportation sounds great on the surface, but any such "big buck" wishful thinking project is most likely to end up in the "money bucket" pockets of politicians. Haven't we discovered yet that local politicians are incapable of completing a project where the money is earmarked? They shift funds to what THEY want, not what WE want.
The tracks are allready there. Just need coordinating with the track owners and the Metrolink cars and train egineers. Much less cost than ruining Santa Barbara!
OK, using existing tracks. When I think of modern-day train engineers I think of pot smoking and careless "engineering" when traveling down the tracks. I had a friend that would never fly and only took the train on business trips. One time he was on a train in a big accident in New York. It does take quite a bit of organizing transportation from the main city drop-offs to the remote locations.
Paul- Are service workers willing to commute? Those I know say they’re ‘entitled’ to live in Santa Barbara, one of the most expensive communities in the country ‘just because’. It’s a ‘right to live where you were raised’; and ‘why should we be forced to commute?’. Generous Philanthropist Richard Berti advocated for and offered to donate millions toward a rail from Buellton to SB, with future link from Lompoc to Buellton. Community leaders rejected it.
Let’s acknowledge our city and leaders are ignorant or stupid, and they’re pushing the socialist agenda to destroy Santa Barbara County with their NGOs staffed by their friend and family networks . Turn off the money: STOP DONATING. Cut funding to government affiliates.
How do we fund a local DOGE? Are there enough accountants to hire to analyze government, and government funded NPOs/ NGOs?
I understand that there are good paying jobs working for government or as a college administrator.
Transparent California is your friend when it comes to discovering these ripe employment opportunities. Fire services seems to always rank the highest, then police coming in close to education administration, with paid release time for those also becoming employee union representatives .
Yea, a good gig.
Alan Hancock community college in Santa Maria, has a Fire Technology program.
Probably the best return on a two year college education out there. Risks and hazards acknowledged, but that is why there is an in depth training program and safety regulations and protools to protect fire personnel.
Low cost program, open to all. Along with several other community colleges in this state offering similar programs. Marine Diving Technology at SBCC has employers lining up to offer $100K starting salary jobs even before graduation. Right in our own backyard.
I understand that disability fraud is rampant within the fire and police departments. Apparently, disability claims from these professions receive little scrutiny.
Andy is spot on, once again. Until Santa Barbara County residents (and Californian's) vote out the Democrat's (Marxist's) that have hijacked our beautiful county (and state) we will continue our downward slide into the abyss.
I tried the link as well and could not get through.
sorry, correct link here and in story. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CbldVJPuQX-C7mUF-mTlBtPVxU2mrK_m/view?usp=share_link
Andy, I think the Harris and Associates report link is broken. Thank you for your article today.
sorry, correct link here and in story. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CbldVJPuQX-C7mUF-mTlBtPVxU2mrK_m/view?usp=share_link
Charter cities can adopt laws regarding municipal affairs that differ from state statutes, as long as they remain consistent with the US and California Constitutions. There are 125 charter cities out of California's 478 cities.
https://www.californiacityfinance.com/CharterCitiesandGeneralLaw.pdf
Why not pushback on Sacramento? Some charter cities have argued they are exempt from certain housing mandates, particularly those they claim infringe on local land use or zoning authority. A notable case involved Senate Bill 9 (SB 9), which allows duplexes and lot splits in single-family zones. In 2024, a Los Angeles Superior Court ruling (by Judge Curtis Kin) found SB 9 unconstitutional as applied to five charter cities (Redondo Beach, Carson, Torrance, Whittier, and Del Mar), arguing the law wasn’t narrowly tailored to advance affordable housing and thus improperly overrode charter city autonomy. However, this ruling was narrow, focusing on the law’s wording and its link to “affordable” housing, and it didn’t broadly exempt charter cities from all housing mandates. The ruling’s scope (whether it applies to all charter cities or just the plaintiffs) remains unclear.
When SB County shut down oil drilling, many high paying jobs were lost and families broken apart! The revenue benefits to local business also lost.
Workers were forced to commute via plane to Lake Charles and elsewhere in Louisiana and Texas. Our communities lost valued volunteer leadership at schools, coaching sports teams, and much more. Eventually these many families sold their homes moved away to keep their nuclear family together. An unacknowledged, huge loss to our county.
Thanks Andy for exposing local realities.
Over 500 major companies, many tech related, have left CA since 2018 due to regulations and the inability to hire in one of the most unaffordable places in America. If I could post a chart here, I'd show you that Texas is a few years away from becoming the new Silicon Valley.
I sat on hiring panels at Naval Base Ventura County. Let's say a young person graduates from a UC with a degree in Cyber. We can offer them 70k to start in the Government. Meanwhile, a private tech company in Austin can offer them 110K to start, affordable housing within driving distance, less cost of living, etc...and considering all of them are already in the hole with $40k in average student loan debt...it's a no-brainer.
We are in a death spiral of no industry with competitive wages and unaffordable living. The median home cost is now 14.3x the median family income in SB County. The national average is 5.4x. We are past due for a change from the elected cabal ruining this area.