Santa Barbara City Council gives staff Rent Stabilization Ordinance input

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) The Santa Barbara City Council returned from a summer break with Rent Stabilization on its agenda.

The Santa Barbara City Council received a summary of a 30 days of public comments that included 655 comments received by the city.

"We are asking for some additional analysis to make sure that the narrow scope of exemptions is what we want to do moving forward and yes tonight we went through 179 different comments from the public on detailed amendments to the ordinance and we have made great strides to make this one of the strongest ordinances, possibly in the state," said First District Councilmembers Wendy Santamaria.

City staff requested direction on issues that include exemptions, petition framework, decision making authority, governance, tenant protections and rental registry.

Staff also suggested spending $35-50,000 to do a study, but they said it could be discussed at a later date.

Following the presentation the council opened the meeting up to additional public comments that lasted for a couple of hours.

Key provisions in the proposed ordinance include limiting rent increases on thousands of units citywide and creating a rental registry.

The units would not include new construction.

Rent stabilization and a temporary rent freeze has already led to months of debate between renters and landlords, as well as a lawsuit by landlords against the city.

Supporters of rent stabilization could be heard rallying outside city hall before the item was discussed.

CAUSE Policy Advocate Ana Arce spoke in a megaphone about the hopes of renters.

A man passing by called it communism.

Arce said she didn't hear him.

"You can't let people ruffle your feathers you know housing is for all it is a human right. We are not asking for us to have free rent what we are asking for is to have sustainable living and like have safe affordable rental units where we can like not feel like we are one paycheck away from being evicted," said Arce.

Housing Provider Rick Lang said Santa Barbara is like Hawaii when it comes to housing costs.

"Santa Barbara is a lot like Hawaii you've got limited land, you got wealthy people moving in and your going to have limited amount of sources for jobs because it is mainly tourism," said Lang.

Many landlords think it is unfair to put the onus on property owners.

"The only way to turn what the real cost is into what people think is affordable requires a subsidy and the subsidies are completely being born by the rental property owners at the moment they should be carried by the entire community," said Lang.

The meeting wrapped up after 10:20 p.m.

The city plans to have ordinance in place by January 1.

Some landlords said the upcoming election could impact that as well.

Rent stabilization supporters said they are not worried.

For more information visit https://santabarbaraca.gov

Coincidentally the Oxnard Housing Department is hosting a Tenant Protection and Rent Stabilization Community Meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 18 at the Oxnard City Hall from 5:30-7:30 p.m. to discuss Oxnard's proposed program, fees and timeline.

Your News Channel will continue to follow the issue.