The 6th Annual Santa Barbara Housing Conference has been rescheduled for 8:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 2, as a virtual event via Zoom. The original in-person conference date was May 1.

The decision to make changes to the conference was made by the Coastal Housing Coalition (CHC) Board of Directors in response to California public health officials’ recent directive to minimize the spread and mitigate the effects of COVID19.

“The CHC Board and housing conference committee continue to work hard on this year’s conference, which will continue with the same great programming and speakers but in a vibrant virtual format,” said Olivia Marr, board president. Conference co-chairs are attorney Christopher Guillen and Craig Minus, CHC executive director.

Santa Barbara County’s only housing conference, presented by the nonprofit Coastal Housing Coalition, will feature keynote speaker Daniel Walters, an expert on California politics and a featured columnist at calmatters.org, as well as a number of California newspapers.

In addition to educational workshops, there will be a presentation by Gimme Shelter podcast hosts Liam Dillon from the L.A. Times and Matt Levin of calmatters.org.

“The greater Santa Barbara community recognizes the importance of housing for the workforce and has continually supported our annual housing conference year after year,” said Guillen. “We thank the many businesses who have already committed their sponsorship to this event, as well as our registered attendees.”

Sponsorship opportunities are available, and all existing sponsorships will automatically remain in place for the Oct. 2 date.

CHC, founded in 2005, is dedicated to finding solutions to the South Coast’s housing crisis and reversing the adverse impacts of the lack of workforce housing is having on the economy, environment, and civic life.

For more about CHC and 6th Annual Santa Barbara Housing Conference, visit www.coastalhousingcoalition.org, email Minus at craig@coastalhousing.org, or call 805-570-1250.