All this argues for is more Government jobs and intrusion into private affairs. Tragic. In an economic climate where the pensions and wages of Government employees soar above those of the private sector, this will take yet more rental housing out of the market and put it into short term rentals for tourists, undermining the hotels and bed tax.
Pat: Don't forget all that "workforce" housing that'll be created in a controlled market for the overpaid city and county employees whose ranks continue to multiply regardless of want (by taxpayers) or need (by taxpayers)!
Pat, legal STR, do pay TOT, aka bed tax. Next time the report comes out, I will share it. But you are correct, this will take more housing off the rental market.
A 'system' is only as 'good' as the people who 'inhabit' it. How people 'conduct' themselves is a matter of 'culture' and 'education.' Look around and you'll see why any 'system' fails. Plus ca change, plus la meme chose.
Thank you, Bonnie. I’m actually against some landlords — the whole STR group who often don’t live in the neighborhoods where they own their STRs. In my neighborhood, they are bullying towards the residents, they don’t care who parties in their STR, or the damage they do to the neighborhood. We used to have more long term rental houses here. Why aren’t these ATUN members grateful for the landlords who will rent long term and go after the STR craziness?
"We want a list of units, we want a board for just cause evictions, and the list goes on"
The Council who champion this and the Socialist Control of property already have a bunch of what they want. The RPA with the city has a board for evictions. The City already has a list of rental units. The City already has a list of rental property owners. The City is already forcing government owned and operated housing that is squeezing the private property owners (aka Housing Authority).
Isn't Socialism grand?
The other day a city employee walked on to my property to inspect a leak. All he had to do is call and ask is there a problem? I would have given him the answer.
A couple of years back I had another "civil"(?) servant walking around my property taking pictures. I asked who he was and who gave him the right to do this? His comment was the City of SB had decided to do an inventory of property and publish it on line. I a) made the point he could get his sorry @$$ off my property, b) made the point that there had been no Council agenda stating this action, and it was a sorry excuse for a man in housing that made a unilateral decision for his trespass, and c) I asked of the Mayor Schneider and the City Attorney who was going to compensate me and my tenants for B&E Crimes; since the City obviously was going to hand a blue print of how to break in and steal.
The above came to legal halt. Was there ever an explanation or apology? Not even close.
What we have is an attempt to solve the issue of a unique location on the West Coast of California that will "always" attract more people than the square footage of land and resources can sustain.
"I want, I demand, How can you be so mean" will never solve this attraction. It shows the intellectual failure of these people. My suggestion is you find a nice piece of land, call yourselves Luddites, and run it the way you want. When you fail do not come to me or any other taxpayer to save your failure.
Oh that is right the Luddites already did this and they did in fact fail.
Funny how the commies never acknowledge that “capitalism” (or whatever economic system it is we have) has created 145.4 million housing units in the U.S., as of 2023, per ChatGPT. That’s a pretty impressive number to me but to the mad lefties it’s a sign of crisis and failure, of a housing market that needs structural reform from the bottom up. Disagree and you’re a Nazi, as usual. Anything to institute their agenda, I guess.
Does the Santa Barbara Tenants Union have much impact on the local scene, does anyone know?
Yes, both the Santa Barbara Tenants Union and CAUSE will speak during public comment at tonight’s City Council meeting. They regularly participate when rental and housing matters are on the agenda.
Cambral- interesting all the countries you mention, have strict rent control laws already on the books. Theo does have a point on the lack of home ownership in the USA. Case in point; Mamdami being elected as mayor of NYC. Trump further validating his victory by inviting him to the “gold room”, formerly known as the Oval Office.
An in-depth article as usual, Bonnie! Back in the 1980's I was able to afford purchasing rental property. But today it seems "government" believes if you currently own or have the BIG money to purchase HIGH priced property, then you should be able to rent property for nothing. The rental market can now be crowded with investors more interested in property value increases ... they can probably be the ones maybe not bothering to rent out the property but simply care about the property increase values. If they do rent property, then probably for very high amounts. I find it all vert fascinating. SB is simply continuing to create a higher cost of living threshold of the haves and have nots. As usual, follow the money trail needs back to the people running the governments ... they want more of your money.
I learned about ATUN and SBTU’s affiliation with them over a year ago. I find it ironic they fight for destruction of a symbiotic relationship between landlords and tenants without offering any solutions. Is socialized housing the solution? Are they against the Housing Authority, as they are landlords too?
Rent stabilization/control has failed everywhere it’s been tried, and the results are abysmal. It’s not needs based. Anyone in place when an RSO is passed has essentially won the lottery, whether they are a financially struggling, local worker, or a wealthy individual wanting a part time vacation unit. It hurts tenants in the long run.
My guess is that most everyone is/was a tenant at one point. If you don’t own rental property and think this doesn’t affect you, think again. If you own your home, you will be next for them to target your assets.
I hope everyone reading this will come tonight to speak to council. No one is safe from this ideology.
Timely article on CREdaily.com entitled Rent Control Lessons from Twin Cities Housing Policies.
Rent "stabilization" is a train wreck. Data vs. the hype from our Socialist friends locally.
Government should stay the hell out of the housing business, except to regulate responsible zoning thais designed to preserve the quality of life for the citizens of the community.
Chasing the forever elusive "affordable housing" unicorn is not only absurd it is destructive.
Bonnie, great write write up! What's left out of increasing rents is the shortage of housing. What is the cause of that shortage? is UCSB that will not provide sufficient on campus housing for its ever growing student population. How many students are renting tin SB? It is possible to pay $5,000 for a 2 bedroom when four roomies split it, especially is Mom and Dad are paying. Is it partially caused by the influx of non-citizens into SB. How may housing units do they occupy? Of course we will never get that information from any unit of our government. While those are definitley contributing factors to the high rents, ie supply vs demand= price. the decades long restrictive housing shortage can be directly traced to government regulation and feed. It was so bad that the Dem governor activated mandatory " you will build this many units". Now both the city and county are scrambling to find room for this mandate. Groups like ATUN are using this government created problem to move us to Communistic structure and eliminate private ownership of property. Now we have at least 2 city council member who champion basically what ATUN wants. Can you guess which 2? Cheers
Bon Bon - excellent plain-talk article much too insightful and professional to be restricted to just this forum. It deserves much wider circulation in hopes we can convince others about 'Commie-Dem creep.' I've got an idea - tenants stop paying their rent and form their own coalition.
Okay I realize this is coming out of left field but I just wanted to say or ask Mr Barton where did you live where did your rent come from? Who paid your bills while you spent 40 hours a week in your physics books? Do you realize that some people don't even have parents? Some people start working when they're 12 years old and that's here in the United States because they have no choice, that's the only way they'll eat. You say all you have to do is work harder but when you start working that young you never really grow up and then what do you pass down to your children if you manage to have children of your own? I just wonder if most of the rest of the population is like you and if that's the real reason there's a " housing crisis". There's a housing crisis because a long time ago people that owned land figured out that they could take advantage of the ones that didn't. Not everyone is like this but the ones that are have enough intrinsic greed that it trickles down to the 10th generation afterward.
All this argues for is more Government jobs and intrusion into private affairs. Tragic. In an economic climate where the pensions and wages of Government employees soar above those of the private sector, this will take yet more rental housing out of the market and put it into short term rentals for tourists, undermining the hotels and bed tax.
Pat: Don't forget all that "workforce" housing that'll be created in a controlled market for the overpaid city and county employees whose ranks continue to multiply regardless of want (by taxpayers) or need (by taxpayers)!
Pat, legal STR, do pay TOT, aka bed tax. Next time the report comes out, I will share it. But you are correct, this will take more housing off the rental market.
Communism has never worked.
Communism works, Lynn, provided there’s enough suffering to make it work.
And where and when did it work?
China has done rather well economically and in terms of world power.
A 'system' is only as 'good' as the people who 'inhabit' it. How people 'conduct' themselves is a matter of 'culture' and 'education.' Look around and you'll see why any 'system' fails. Plus ca change, plus la meme chose.
Good comment, Robert, although some people have a hard time seeing what is really going on and can be very arrogant in their ignorance of such.
Thank you, Bonnie. I’m actually against some landlords — the whole STR group who often don’t live in the neighborhoods where they own their STRs. In my neighborhood, they are bullying towards the residents, they don’t care who parties in their STR, or the damage they do to the neighborhood. We used to have more long term rental houses here. Why aren’t these ATUN members grateful for the landlords who will rent long term and go after the STR craziness?
Wow, is the first comment.
"We want a list of units, we want a board for just cause evictions, and the list goes on"
The Council who champion this and the Socialist Control of property already have a bunch of what they want. The RPA with the city has a board for evictions. The City already has a list of rental units. The City already has a list of rental property owners. The City is already forcing government owned and operated housing that is squeezing the private property owners (aka Housing Authority).
Isn't Socialism grand?
The other day a city employee walked on to my property to inspect a leak. All he had to do is call and ask is there a problem? I would have given him the answer.
A couple of years back I had another "civil"(?) servant walking around my property taking pictures. I asked who he was and who gave him the right to do this? His comment was the City of SB had decided to do an inventory of property and publish it on line. I a) made the point he could get his sorry @$$ off my property, b) made the point that there had been no Council agenda stating this action, and it was a sorry excuse for a man in housing that made a unilateral decision for his trespass, and c) I asked of the Mayor Schneider and the City Attorney who was going to compensate me and my tenants for B&E Crimes; since the City obviously was going to hand a blue print of how to break in and steal.
The above came to legal halt. Was there ever an explanation or apology? Not even close.
What we have is an attempt to solve the issue of a unique location on the West Coast of California that will "always" attract more people than the square footage of land and resources can sustain.
"I want, I demand, How can you be so mean" will never solve this attraction. It shows the intellectual failure of these people. My suggestion is you find a nice piece of land, call yourselves Luddites, and run it the way you want. When you fail do not come to me or any other taxpayer to save your failure.
Oh that is right the Luddites already did this and they did in fact fail.
Thank Bonnie.
RHNA is exactly this. Sacramento demands and you better knuckle under.
Funny how the commies never acknowledge that “capitalism” (or whatever economic system it is we have) has created 145.4 million housing units in the U.S., as of 2023, per ChatGPT. That’s a pretty impressive number to me but to the mad lefties it’s a sign of crisis and failure, of a housing market that needs structural reform from the bottom up. Disagree and you’re a Nazi, as usual. Anything to institute their agenda, I guess.
Does the Santa Barbara Tenants Union have much impact on the local scene, does anyone know?
Yes, both the Santa Barbara Tenants Union and CAUSE will speak during public comment at tonight’s City Council meeting. They regularly participate when rental and housing matters are on the agenda.
Cambral- interesting all the countries you mention, have strict rent control laws already on the books. Theo does have a point on the lack of home ownership in the USA. Case in point; Mamdami being elected as mayor of NYC. Trump further validating his victory by inviting him to the “gold room”, formerly known as the Oval Office.
Ms. Livingston; apples and oranges come to mind.
All housing providers are showing up at the city council today at 5 WEARING BLACK. See you there.
An in-depth article as usual, Bonnie! Back in the 1980's I was able to afford purchasing rental property. But today it seems "government" believes if you currently own or have the BIG money to purchase HIGH priced property, then you should be able to rent property for nothing. The rental market can now be crowded with investors more interested in property value increases ... they can probably be the ones maybe not bothering to rent out the property but simply care about the property increase values. If they do rent property, then probably for very high amounts. I find it all vert fascinating. SB is simply continuing to create a higher cost of living threshold of the haves and have nots. As usual, follow the money trail needs back to the people running the governments ... they want more of your money.
So, City Council is on break at 4 pm with dinner provided by you the taxpayer.... remember they receive $110,000.00 or so.... they will start at 5 pm
As a tenant in Santa Barbara County, I am appalled by the dangerous marxist/angels
propagandized dogma espoused by ATUN.
Great article, Bonnie.
I learned about ATUN and SBTU’s affiliation with them over a year ago. I find it ironic they fight for destruction of a symbiotic relationship between landlords and tenants without offering any solutions. Is socialized housing the solution? Are they against the Housing Authority, as they are landlords too?
Rent stabilization/control has failed everywhere it’s been tried, and the results are abysmal. It’s not needs based. Anyone in place when an RSO is passed has essentially won the lottery, whether they are a financially struggling, local worker, or a wealthy individual wanting a part time vacation unit. It hurts tenants in the long run.
My guess is that most everyone is/was a tenant at one point. If you don’t own rental property and think this doesn’t affect you, think again. If you own your home, you will be next for them to target your assets.
I hope everyone reading this will come tonight to speak to council. No one is safe from this ideology.
Timely article on CREdaily.com entitled Rent Control Lessons from Twin Cities Housing Policies.
Rent "stabilization" is a train wreck. Data vs. the hype from our Socialist friends locally.
Government should stay the hell out of the housing business, except to regulate responsible zoning thais designed to preserve the quality of life for the citizens of the community.
Chasing the forever elusive "affordable housing" unicorn is not only absurd it is destructive.
Bonnie, great write write up! What's left out of increasing rents is the shortage of housing. What is the cause of that shortage? is UCSB that will not provide sufficient on campus housing for its ever growing student population. How many students are renting tin SB? It is possible to pay $5,000 for a 2 bedroom when four roomies split it, especially is Mom and Dad are paying. Is it partially caused by the influx of non-citizens into SB. How may housing units do they occupy? Of course we will never get that information from any unit of our government. While those are definitley contributing factors to the high rents, ie supply vs demand= price. the decades long restrictive housing shortage can be directly traced to government regulation and feed. It was so bad that the Dem governor activated mandatory " you will build this many units". Now both the city and county are scrambling to find room for this mandate. Groups like ATUN are using this government created problem to move us to Communistic structure and eliminate private ownership of property. Now we have at least 2 city council member who champion basically what ATUN wants. Can you guess which 2? Cheers
Same old arguments, different day. The cycles repeat. The eternal recurring same. A new cycle is forming. Be prepared.
Bon Bon - excellent plain-talk article much too insightful and professional to be restricted to just this forum. It deserves much wider circulation in hopes we can convince others about 'Commie-Dem creep.' I've got an idea - tenants stop paying their rent and form their own coalition.
WOW, you are in support of tenants not paying their rent? Squatters are members of this group...
It's the only way the SB 'planners' and landlords will understand tenant 'value', but it seems to me landlords wil be the most put upon. What a mess.
Okay I realize this is coming out of left field but I just wanted to say or ask Mr Barton where did you live where did your rent come from? Who paid your bills while you spent 40 hours a week in your physics books? Do you realize that some people don't even have parents? Some people start working when they're 12 years old and that's here in the United States because they have no choice, that's the only way they'll eat. You say all you have to do is work harder but when you start working that young you never really grow up and then what do you pass down to your children if you manage to have children of your own? I just wonder if most of the rest of the population is like you and if that's the real reason there's a " housing crisis". There's a housing crisis because a long time ago people that owned land figured out that they could take advantage of the ones that didn't. Not everyone is like this but the ones that are have enough intrinsic greed that it trickles down to the 10th generation afterward.
If that's the definition of Darwinism...sign me up. Also know as common sense, personal responsibility, etc.