A rent stabilization program would cost the city at least $2 million annually and affect about 13,000 units in Santa Barbara.
The Santa Barbara City Council on Tuesday pushed ahead on the controversial ordinance. City staff presented an update on its progress in drafting a proposed ordinance. A majority of the City Council in April voted to support a rent stabilization ordinance that caps rents at 60% of CPI or 3%, whichever is lowest.
Tuesday’s staff report, however, stated that a 75% of CPI would be a more manageable number for city staff on its workload. The council is set to review a draft proposal of the ordinance on June 9.
Santa Barbara Mayor Randy Rowse said a rent stabilization ordinance will hurt property owners and tenants in the long run.
“We’re basically trying to determine how people use and handle their own asset on a private piece of property,” Rowse said. “I think we are taking a problem that belongs to the entire city and this council and laying it on the shoulders of a very few and a very rarified group of people.”
Rowse called the proposal a “trainwreck.”
“We’re heading for something we particularly aren’t prepared for,” Rowse said.
The council must make decisions. on whether to include Section 8 housing tenants, amount of rent cap, whether to allow landlords capital improvement exemptions, and other details of an ordinance.
Stanley Tzankov called the proposed ordinance “a truly generational effort” shaped by tenants and their input.
“Housing in Santa Barbara has become increasingly hostile to most people,” said Tzankov, co-founder of the Santa Barbara Tenants Union. “
The council took no formal action on Tuesday, but offered feedback to city staff. Barbara Andersen, senior assistant to the City Administrator and Sarah Court, a consultant with RSG, gave the presentation to the council.
Santa Barbara City Councilwoman Kristen Sneddon suggested that the city follow Alameda’s rent stabilization ordinance.
The ordinance would apply to apartments built before 1995 and single-family homes owned by a corporation or LLC, and not owner-occupied.
The Santa Barbara City Council in January passed a temporary rent freeze while the city works on the details of a rent stabilization ordinance. Attorney Barry Cappello has filed a lawsuit to block the freeze. Cappello represents property owners opposed to the freeze and a rent stabilization ordinance.
