Planning Commissioners Grapple With Rental Housing Flaws

With Santa Barbara’s experimental rental housing program coming to an end, the city is charged with a massive quest — how will it repair the program’s glaring flaws and focus on building affordable rentals? The Planning Commission met for more than five hours Thursday, poring over a 44-page staff report outlining 14 proposed amendments to the program, but they still barely scratched the surface.

“We have 14 meaty concepts here,” said Planning Commission Chair Lesley Wiscomb. “There just isn’t enough time to make any real informed decisions yet.” The commission unanimously voted to pick up the discussion where it left off and formally vote on Thursday, October 17. They must vote on a full list of recommendations in time to present to the City Council at their joint November 14 meeting.

The proposed amendments are for the Average Unit-sized Density program (AUD), which was approved in 2013 as a way to incentivize developers to build more housing by allowing greater building density for rental apartments after the city spent 40 years with few to none built at all. The AUD program has an initial duration of eight years or until 250 new units are constructed. It’s currently six years in, and 223 new units have been built, so the decision to either amend the program or get rid of it entirely is right around the corner.