New Exhibit Displays Exclusionary Housing Policies of the Past
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) - Deep into Santa Barbara County history, the Hall of Records is working to find and eliminate racist words that, at the time, prevented many people from getting into certain properties and establishing their families fairly in this area.
A State Assembly Bill five years ago required California counties take the discrimination out of the wording on the key property documents. It works to repair what happened with California’s exclusionary laws.
Specifically you can see some examples that showed property that could only be sold or rented to Caucasians and other information showed how many minorities were ushered into less profitable areas of the city.
It had generational impacts on family income and property ownerships.
It is on display in a new exhibit at the Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation
The exhibit is called “Fine Print, Hard Lines: Housing & Exclusion in Santa Barbara.”
Deputy Santa Barbara County Clerk Melinda Greene spoke at a recent presentation and said, "Santa Barbara trust can really paint the picture and give specific examples of individuals that had that struggle."
Santa Barbara City College was able to play a part through its "Stop the Hate" program and the funding and research came together.
The Clerk's office has the original documents and a link to the redacted or modified documents.
In order for this project to work, a collaboration had to take place with the Trust for Historic Preservation where the panels are set up.
The exhibit gives the public a close up look at the exact wording that restricted advancement for many residents.
"And so seeing that really, it influenced how important it was to us to make sure that some of those examples were included in the panels and the exhibits," said Dez laniz with the Presidio Research Center.
Speaking in a special presentation, one curator said the impacts were widespread over many decades.
Fleurette Juda said, "all of the housing policies in the United States history that could be considered racially injust, and that started with the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882 and went all the way up until this bill."
Specifically to this area, curator Katherina Gontaryuk said, "and hearing people say, don't turn Santa Barbara into Los Angeles, and Santa Barbara is full. There's no more space here. We need to preserve the climate. We don't have enough water. There's just no way to make it work. And obviously, the population of Santa Barbara County has expanded tremendously over the past 100 years."
The exhibit is called “Fine Print, Hard Lines: Housing & Exclusion in Santa Barbara.”
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