Superbly written. I went to the last meeting and spoke but can not attend this one. Can somebody please publicly ask the council for a show of hands ‘how many of you would vote right now for a plan that calls for a revenue freeze for the city but allows city expenses to climb unchecked. Show of hand please” expose the hypocrisy publicly at the meeting. Please someone do it.
Kevin, your Sneddon article is so spot on. She cannot be elected mayor. Shee seems to have not knowledge of "income" vs "profit " from the sale of a building. I guess you ask the question what happens if all the "mom and pop" appartment owners decide to sell? Who is going to buy those units with "rental control " in effect? Sneddon needs to be gone, simple as that, she go back to whatever she was doing before playing at governance of the City.
IF THERE IS A HOUSING SHORTAGE deport illegal aliens for a start. Then cap international and out of state students at SBCC and UCSB. Then improve public transportation to support workers commuting from the affordable districts of Lompoc and Ventura.
None of this requires a new bureaucracy and government overreach into the landlord-tenant relationship.
ALAS there is a "stick it to The Man" scent in the wind, blood in the water, revolutionary entitlement demanded by the underclass.
"The difference between a welfare state and a totalitarian state is a matter of time." -Ayn Rand
Solid information which I wish would get broader media oxygen. Kevin is spot on re : Public v Private sector disclosure. Sort of real world naive not to understand that a privately held business (vs. publicly traded) is, well, private, ie, real life experience (outside the public sector/academia) matters. Our own Kristen Miller, CEO of the Chamber of Commerce ( BUSINESS!) submitted a letter supported by a 15 page global study that shows rent control does not work and that the Chamber was against it. But let’s forget the facts, let’s forget the data and let’s allow our already pitifully aged rental stock continue to deteriorate. Let’s then layer god knows how many city workers into a Rent Control Board at a time when our city is $10+M in the red. Fiscal mismanagement together with a policy that will destroy badly needed new housing supply/competition results in what we already have— a race to the bottom. Keep slicing an ever decreasing pie rather than growing it with vibrancy, vision and business and pretty soon the ONLY jobs available will be in the public sector. But, hey, maybe that’s the point. Lovely! Shameless Personal Plug : I hope everyone comes to our newly launched Spotlight Speaker series kicking off with Dan Walters on Thursday Feb 5, it should be fun!
Cea Weaver, was recently appointed by NYC Mayor, Zohran Mamdami as “Director of the Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants” and is a longtime “housing activist” and member of the Democratic Socialists of America.
Weaver, has been quoted in the past as espousing outrageous statements such as “Home ownership is a weapon of white supremacy,” and “White families especially, will have a different relationship to with (their) property.”
Why is this important or relevant to the SB housing market? Because, it is the same contagion infecting our local politics and is emblematic of what the Democratic Party has morphed into.
What’s next for SB city government, a highly paid City Housing Czar, picking winners and losers?
What we see today is housing has been weaponized by the DSA and the corrupt Unions which supports it. This boils down to is a massive transfer of wealth from property owners (many of whom are white) to tenants (many of whom are not).
Is living in SB in 2026 a human right? Certainly, the DSA and SB Tenants Union seem to think so.
This has all been a well planned, concocted scheme using guaranteed wages, income, health benefits, food, even cellphone and internet service as a cudgel to beat the rest of us over the head with!
Let’s not forget what that wiz kid Mayor from NYC proclaimed, “We will replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism.”
Think it doesn’t apply to our sleepy little seaside bubble? Think again, it’s all baked in!
Elephant in the room: Large number of illegal aliens and their "American" children are a significant factor in local housing. Instead of creating more laws to further confiscate property rights, support and enforce existing laws. Not an elixir of course but clearly a component.
Allow the Law of Supply and Demand to work. If rents are too high, people will not pay...forcing the price down...or they live in a location they can afford. Artificially controlling prices creates more demand. Limited supply? Yes...and a concomitant quality of life for residents who elect to pay extra to fly first class. Want economy? Move to LA or Bakersfield...both fine places, however clearly not Santa Barbara. Sneddon and Santamaria want everyone to fly first class and pay economy prices while having someone else pay the difference. No thanks.
If Mss. Santamaria and Sneddon have their way--and the odds are they will, given the political wind and moment--I would ask that the City include some "landlord protection" features as well, including monthly reimbursement of what we experience as late and partial payment, collection loss, eviction costs (for just cause) and the other versions of non-payment including the waste created by tenants in their uncareful occupation of our property. In the last year alone, I experienced well over $20,000 in such expense (for one Sec 8 voucher tenant!), the category of which has been given no visibility in this grandstanding discussion at council meetings. There is an unseen hand in the operation of free-market economics and if this risk/reward algorithm is tampered with clumsily, the consequences will likely be unforeseen and negative. If this political moment calls for such tampering, but if fairness is the operative principle, then tampering with the REWARD should come with a complementary tampering of the RISK, such that the City should reimburse landlords for the bad debt and collection loss associated with the protected tenants. Abuse of the tenant-landlord relationship, which is what animates this discussion and the instant proposal on the table, is a two way street. Oh, by the way, borrowing against real estate in controlled markets carries a premium cost that cannot be ignored. If lenders price in higher risk based on their thousands of "lived experiences" (Kristen), then communities considering such ordinances should be given pause about the Faustian bargain they are making.
Five stars! Unfortunately your piece is waaaay over their "collective" heads at every level.
They have an agenda that neither facts nor reason will deter them from their misguided and intellectually corrupt mission to bring even more socialistic policies to Santa Barbara.
Good Article…just another step towards socialism, promoted by the Marxist now in charge & backed by the lower socioeconomic renters in the community…next step will be to take control of housing sales as mom & pop landlords exit the market due to higher costs & added government controls. Already happening in NY, just a matter of time if SB goes down the path of price controls…
“The New York City Council approved a sweeping housing measure Thursday that will give community land trusts the first opportunity to purchase certain properties before they are listed on the open market…Under the bill, owners of buildings with more than four units, or more than six units if the owner lives on-site, must notify qualified CLTs before selling.”
The City Council needs to focus on running the city: public safety, water, sewer, garbage, roads (FYI, they’re not doing a good job at this). STOP trying to socially engineer neighborhoods or the business community. Politicians that try to “fix” housing just end up making things worse.
Comrade Mamdani would fit right in nicely with those proposing these new rules designed to destroy the rental housing situation in SB.
Here is his inauguration quote
“We will replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism.”
The blue haired socialists and college Marxists here, who vote for loons like Kristen Sneddon, Limon, Newscum Weiner, Hart yada yada - all would likely elect Mamdani as our mayor if he were on our ballot. U-Haul is a much better investment than buying rental property here if these people succeed in their plans.
Just excellent - the observations and analysis by Kevin Boss reveal the clear ignorance of the new generation of politicians in local government. The clear ignorance of the democrat zombie voters is as worrisome as these local politicians who pander for their vote.
OhLochGilly: the problem is not just Democrat voters, it’s all voters. There is only one Council vote cast by a non-Democrat and that is Mayor Randy Rowse, BTW: Randy is running again for Mayor against all Democrats. FIND electible Non-Democrats to run, to support in D4,5,6.
Three cogently written statements that demonstrate rent control does not work to increase affordable housing for tenants or property owners who have invested in income property. It is clearly unconstitutional and an obvious political move toward more control by two city officials looking for future votes. All we need is one more layer of middle management city appointed officials to oversee the rental control board, salaries to be determined!! Thank you Lydia. Loy, and Kevin.
Kevin-Your command of basic economics has placed Sneddon to the woodshed-where she belongs. Thank you.
Superbly written. I went to the last meeting and spoke but can not attend this one. Can somebody please publicly ask the council for a show of hands ‘how many of you would vote right now for a plan that calls for a revenue freeze for the city but allows city expenses to climb unchecked. Show of hand please” expose the hypocrisy publicly at the meeting. Please someone do it.
Leave it to the politicians to get involved in something that once worked and then later managed to destroy it, such as affordable housing.
Kevin, your Sneddon article is so spot on. She cannot be elected mayor. Shee seems to have not knowledge of "income" vs "profit " from the sale of a building. I guess you ask the question what happens if all the "mom and pop" appartment owners decide to sell? Who is going to buy those units with "rental control " in effect? Sneddon needs to be gone, simple as that, she go back to whatever she was doing before playing at governance of the City.
IF THERE IS A HOUSING SHORTAGE deport illegal aliens for a start. Then cap international and out of state students at SBCC and UCSB. Then improve public transportation to support workers commuting from the affordable districts of Lompoc and Ventura.
None of this requires a new bureaucracy and government overreach into the landlord-tenant relationship.
ALAS there is a "stick it to The Man" scent in the wind, blood in the water, revolutionary entitlement demanded by the underclass.
"The difference between a welfare state and a totalitarian state is a matter of time." -Ayn Rand
As usual dimocrats and the big blue
Ucsb BLUE BUBBLE caused the
'Housing shortage.
A) encouraged huge population
Increase by allowing open border
To the WORLD!
B) UCSB has increased student
Population to 24,000. It was to
Be 11,000.
As usual they create serious trouble.
.Their prescriptions only make it
WORSE.
Solid information which I wish would get broader media oxygen. Kevin is spot on re : Public v Private sector disclosure. Sort of real world naive not to understand that a privately held business (vs. publicly traded) is, well, private, ie, real life experience (outside the public sector/academia) matters. Our own Kristen Miller, CEO of the Chamber of Commerce ( BUSINESS!) submitted a letter supported by a 15 page global study that shows rent control does not work and that the Chamber was against it. But let’s forget the facts, let’s forget the data and let’s allow our already pitifully aged rental stock continue to deteriorate. Let’s then layer god knows how many city workers into a Rent Control Board at a time when our city is $10+M in the red. Fiscal mismanagement together with a policy that will destroy badly needed new housing supply/competition results in what we already have— a race to the bottom. Keep slicing an ever decreasing pie rather than growing it with vibrancy, vision and business and pretty soon the ONLY jobs available will be in the public sector. But, hey, maybe that’s the point. Lovely! Shameless Personal Plug : I hope everyone comes to our newly launched Spotlight Speaker series kicking off with Dan Walters on Thursday Feb 5, it should be fun!
Cea Weaver, was recently appointed by NYC Mayor, Zohran Mamdami as “Director of the Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants” and is a longtime “housing activist” and member of the Democratic Socialists of America.
Weaver, has been quoted in the past as espousing outrageous statements such as “Home ownership is a weapon of white supremacy,” and “White families especially, will have a different relationship to with (their) property.”
Why is this important or relevant to the SB housing market? Because, it is the same contagion infecting our local politics and is emblematic of what the Democratic Party has morphed into.
What’s next for SB city government, a highly paid City Housing Czar, picking winners and losers?
What we see today is housing has been weaponized by the DSA and the corrupt Unions which supports it. This boils down to is a massive transfer of wealth from property owners (many of whom are white) to tenants (many of whom are not).
Is living in SB in 2026 a human right? Certainly, the DSA and SB Tenants Union seem to think so.
https://sbtu.org/resources/
This has all been a well planned, concocted scheme using guaranteed wages, income, health benefits, food, even cellphone and internet service as a cudgel to beat the rest of us over the head with!
Let’s not forget what that wiz kid Mayor from NYC proclaimed, “We will replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism.”
Think it doesn’t apply to our sleepy little seaside bubble? Think again, it’s all baked in!
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/mamdanis-top-housing-pick-once-called-homeownership-weapon-white-supremacy.amp
https://www.cato.org/blog/mamdani-collectivism
Cea Weaver would likely get elected to the SB City Council.
Elephant in the room: Large number of illegal aliens and their "American" children are a significant factor in local housing. Instead of creating more laws to further confiscate property rights, support and enforce existing laws. Not an elixir of course but clearly a component.
Allow the Law of Supply and Demand to work. If rents are too high, people will not pay...forcing the price down...or they live in a location they can afford. Artificially controlling prices creates more demand. Limited supply? Yes...and a concomitant quality of life for residents who elect to pay extra to fly first class. Want economy? Move to LA or Bakersfield...both fine places, however clearly not Santa Barbara. Sneddon and Santamaria want everyone to fly first class and pay economy prices while having someone else pay the difference. No thanks.
If Mss. Santamaria and Sneddon have their way--and the odds are they will, given the political wind and moment--I would ask that the City include some "landlord protection" features as well, including monthly reimbursement of what we experience as late and partial payment, collection loss, eviction costs (for just cause) and the other versions of non-payment including the waste created by tenants in their uncareful occupation of our property. In the last year alone, I experienced well over $20,000 in such expense (for one Sec 8 voucher tenant!), the category of which has been given no visibility in this grandstanding discussion at council meetings. There is an unseen hand in the operation of free-market economics and if this risk/reward algorithm is tampered with clumsily, the consequences will likely be unforeseen and negative. If this political moment calls for such tampering, but if fairness is the operative principle, then tampering with the REWARD should come with a complementary tampering of the RISK, such that the City should reimburse landlords for the bad debt and collection loss associated with the protected tenants. Abuse of the tenant-landlord relationship, which is what animates this discussion and the instant proposal on the table, is a two way street. Oh, by the way, borrowing against real estate in controlled markets carries a premium cost that cannot be ignored. If lenders price in higher risk based on their thousands of "lived experiences" (Kristen), then communities considering such ordinances should be given pause about the Faustian bargain they are making.
Five stars! Unfortunately your piece is waaaay over their "collective" heads at every level.
They have an agenda that neither facts nor reason will deter them from their misguided and intellectually corrupt mission to bring even more socialistic policies to Santa Barbara.
Tyranny of the majority anyone?
Good Article…just another step towards socialism, promoted by the Marxist now in charge & backed by the lower socioeconomic renters in the community…next step will be to take control of housing sales as mom & pop landlords exit the market due to higher costs & added government controls. Already happening in NY, just a matter of time if SB goes down the path of price controls…
“The New York City Council approved a sweeping housing measure Thursday that will give community land trusts the first opportunity to purchase certain properties before they are listed on the open market…Under the bill, owners of buildings with more than four units, or more than six units if the owner lives on-site, must notify qualified CLTs before selling.”
https://newyork.news12.com/city-council-passes-copa-bill-giving-community-land-trusts-first-dibs-on-home-sales
The City Council needs to focus on running the city: public safety, water, sewer, garbage, roads (FYI, they’re not doing a good job at this). STOP trying to socially engineer neighborhoods or the business community. Politicians that try to “fix” housing just end up making things worse.
Comrade Mamdani would fit right in nicely with those proposing these new rules designed to destroy the rental housing situation in SB.
Here is his inauguration quote
“We will replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism.”
The blue haired socialists and college Marxists here, who vote for loons like Kristen Sneddon, Limon, Newscum Weiner, Hart yada yada - all would likely elect Mamdani as our mayor if he were on our ballot. U-Haul is a much better investment than buying rental property here if these people succeed in their plans.
Just excellent - the observations and analysis by Kevin Boss reveal the clear ignorance of the new generation of politicians in local government. The clear ignorance of the democrat zombie voters is as worrisome as these local politicians who pander for their vote.
OhLochGilly: the problem is not just Democrat voters, it’s all voters. There is only one Council vote cast by a non-Democrat and that is Mayor Randy Rowse, BTW: Randy is running again for Mayor against all Democrats. FIND electible Non-Democrats to run, to support in D4,5,6.
Donate or have them send a petition to you. Ca voter ID !!
https://www.reformcalifornia.org/cavoterid/home
Three cogently written statements that demonstrate rent control does not work to increase affordable housing for tenants or property owners who have invested in income property. It is clearly unconstitutional and an obvious political move toward more control by two city officials looking for future votes. All we need is one more layer of middle management city appointed officials to oversee the rental control board, salaries to be determined!! Thank you Lydia. Loy, and Kevin.