Re: Rent Control and Tenant Rights
By Brian Campbell
Dear Santa Barbara City Council Members,
I am writing to express serious concern regarding the city’s continued push for expanded rent control and tenant protections under the premise of a “housing crisis.” While housing affordability is a real challenge, the proposed policies fail to address the root causes and instead impose harmful and ineffective measures on local property owners.
Surrounding communities—including Goleta, Carpinteria, Ventura, and San Luis Obispo—face nearly identical economic conditions. Rents are comparable, and wages in many of those towns are equal to or higher than those in Santa Barbara. The idea that Santa Barbara is uniquely unaffordable does not withstand regional comparison.
The truth is, rent control and enhanced tenant rights have been tried and have failed in many cities across California and the nation. At best they are a band-aid, short term protection for tenants. The reality is now every tenant's rent will be increased each year.
These policies tend to discourage housing development as we have seen here, reduce property maintenance (everyone recalls Dario), and ultimately worsen affordability. Rather than addressing the actual drivers of high housing costs, they punish responsible landlords while doing little to solve the broader crisis.
The real issue is economic imbalance: wages are not keeping pace with the rising cost of living—especially groceries, utilities, rent, and fuel. Instead of confronting these underlying issues, the city is proposing a short-sighted band-aid that unfairly shifts the burden onto property owners.
Santa Barbara’s housing shortage—estimated at over 8,000 units—is largely the result of failed government planning and enforcement. Two key population groups have placed a disproportionate strain on the city’s and county’s limited housing stock:
Illegal Aliens
According to a February 2025 article in the Santa Barbara Independent, Santa Barbara County is home to an estimated 44,000 individuals who are in the country unlawfully—roughly 22,000 in South County and between 8,000 to 12,000 within Santa Barbara city limits. These figures, cited from sources including the U.S. Census, Pew Research, CAUSE, and 805 UndocuFund, reflect a substantial population that is taking away housing from U.S. citizens and those who are here in Santa Barbara lawfully, placing pressure on our already scarce housing resources.
2) Non-Earning Students
Santa Barbara hosts approximately 35,000 to 40,000 students from UCSB and Santa Barbara City College. While these students contribute academically and culturally, the vast majority are not full-time wage earners and occupy housing without contributing significantly to the local labor market. As both institutions continue to expand, they have failed to construct adequate student housing, removing housing for workers and families.
These two groups—unlawful immigrants and non-working students—consume a substantial portion of available housing and are either unable or unwilling to pay market-rate rents. Meanwhile, working families and local residents struggle to find affordable places to live.
Basic economics teachers the law of supply and demand drive price. Our local government has caused a supply shortage by not allowing reasonable development and by increasing demand from people who should not be in this country let alone in the City of Santa Barbara.
This is not a failure of the housing market. This is a failure of government—failure to enforce immigration law, failure to hold publicly funded institutions accountable, and failure to plan responsibly for population growth.
Why are local landlords being penalized for these failures? Why is the burden placed on Santa Barbara property owners instead of addressing the policies and institutions truly responsible for this crisis?
I respectfully urge the Council to reconsider its approach. Rather than scapegoating landlords with expanded rent control, focus instead on the structural issues: lawful governance, fair wage growth, responsible institutional expansion, and restoring balance to our housing supply.
Sincerely,
Brian Campbell
Take a look at COLAB’s latest video, “The Great Fee Heist”
Brian- This is a succinct summary of the argument against rent control. I do not have any confidence that our progressive council, supervisors or state legislatures will accept your cogent argument. I have sold my California rental property and reinvested in red states where the landlord tenant laws are reasonably fair.
The foundation of a free society is property rights. Rent control is an usurpation of property. It is theft; it is foolish and dishonest to think otherwise.