LipoDiesel & Weed Wars: Who’s Behind Santa Barbara’s First ‘Builder’s Remedy’ Project?

LipoDiesel & Weed Wars:
Who’s Behind Santa Barbara’s
First ‘Builder’s Remedy’ Project?

Investment Group With Controversial Past
Applies to Build 30-Units of Housing
on Lower Riviera

By Ryan P. Cruz | May 31, 2023

California’s housing crisis has created a sense of desperation, with state officials professing to do everything in their power to encourage and incentivize the building of much-needed affordable housing. Local governments are now required to meet state-mandated housing quotas and have been threatened with penalties should they fail to meet those numbers by the deadlines. 

This perfect storm, where state policy meets pressure to build, plays out in the “Builder’s Remedy,” a provision of California’s Housing Accountability Act that essentially allows developers to sidestep the local review process if those jurisdictions have not met their quotas.

Here on the Central Coast, all of Santa Barbara County, including the cities of Buellton, Carpinteria, Goleta, Guadalupe, Lompoc, Santa Barbara, and Santa Maria, are out of compliance according to the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD). In fact, 230 out of 539 jurisdictions in the state — or 43 percent — ​ are also out of compliance as of May 30, 2023.