The Santa Maria Valley should add all types of housing as soon as possible to meet the needs of current and future residents while forming partnerships and removing unnecessary hurdles to achieve the goal, speakers said Thursday. 

People attending the Santa Maria Valley Housing Summit at Allan Hancock College’s Fine Arts Center on Thursday afternoon heard three panel discussions. Topics included projects under construction, already approved and planned in the future, plus the types of housing needed in the Santa Maria Valley and the challenges developers face in adding to the housing supply. 

The Santa Maria Valley Chamber of Commerce and the Home Builders of the Central Coast organized the third summit held in recent years to unite assorted factions to share ideas and solutions.

“I think it’s all about community and building the homes that our teams want and can afford,” said Sue Andersen, president and chief executive officer for Marian Regional Medical Center.

“But more than that, I think all of us have to work together,” she added, suggesting that employers may need to explore unique approaches such as Cottage Health’s workforce housing project.

Ted Wendel, senior vice president for university planning at A.T. Still University, also cited the importance of partnerships to create housing.

“We picked this community because it’s a gem and we don’t want to change that, but we do have to find a way to accommodate the needs of our employees and our students,” Wendel said.

Blake Bradley, spaceport integration manager for SpaceX, quoted his boss, Elon Musk, while directing a challenge to regulators, developers and community leaders at the summit.

“Elon always says before you go and improve a requirement or before you go to automate a system question if the requirement and the system are necessary,” Bradley said. 

“I think oftentimes in conversations like this we say, ‘It’s California. It’s just hard. It’s a hard state to be in.’ Sure, but why are we making it hard to be in this county, or this city, or this neighborhood?”

“I challenge you all to ‘make your requirements less dumb,'” Bradley said, repeating Musk’s motto and prompting those in the audience to applaud.

More housing is especially needed since forecasts for Vandenberg military programs, SpaceX and other aerospace contractors at Vandenberg Space Force Base call for expansion of their activities and workforce growth in the coming years, boosting the housing need.

“The big challenge with us is the lack of available and affordable housing,” said Tom Stevens, executive director of Vandenberg SFB’s primary unit, Space Launch Delta 30.

While Vandenberg has housing, the number covers slightly less than half of the military members assigned to the base.

The base has about 1,000 homes, and expanding its inventory would involve the Department of Defense via a Housing Requirements and Marketing Analysis, which will take place this year.

The last study assessing availability and other factors for housing on base and in surrounding communities occurred in 2006, when the activity and local economy differed significantly.

“We’re hopeful,” Stevens said. “That HRMA study will be huge on whether there’s a decision made to go build more housing.”

The housing demand spans the spectrum, according to Glenn Morris, president and chief executive officer of the chamber and a panel discussion moderator.

“We don’t need just affordable or just executive. We need all of it in this community,” he said in summarizing the comments.

The housing may be different from traditional single-family homes to meet the needs and desires of future buyers, he added.

Developers shared that surprises adding costs and time can impact the feasibility of a housing project. Additionally, new laws can drive up costs because of additional work by consultants.

“In real estate development, if we can reduce time and risk, that will make a huge difference,” said developer Craig Minus, owner and chief executive officer for CAM Land Use & Development. 

Attorneys Chris Guillen and Mack Carlson from Brownstein, Hyatt, Farber and Schreck LLP quickly recapped the many new housing laws adopted by the state and noted that the people qualifying for lower-income housing hold jobs such as teachers, first responders and nurses.