Hosted by the Coastal Housing Coalition, the 2016 Annual Santa Barbara Housing Conference will be held Friday, May 13, 2016, from 8:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. at the historic Carrillo Recreation Center, 100 E Carrillo Street in downtown Santa Barbara. This year’s conference theme is “Solving the Missing Middle in Housing.”

A volunteer-run nonprofit organization, CHC is hosting the popular conference held for the third year. The event is the only housing conference held in Santa Barbara County.

The CHC mission is to educate the public about the impacts of the lack of available housing that is within financial reach of local workforce and to advocate for policies and projects that produce more housing that is affordable for local workers.

According to the National Association of Home Builders, Santa Barbara County is the one of the least affordable small metropolitan area housing markets in the nation.

Continued exorbitant housing costs make it inconceivable for most people to buy a home, and the rental market is impacted with rising rents with a less than 0.5 percent vacancy rate.

Over 200 expected attendees will include housing providers, developers, business and government leaders, non-profits, architects, employers, government staffers, real estate professionals, financial institution managers, employers and employees.

The conference keynote speaker is Daniel Parolek, AIA, a nationally recognized thought leader in architecture, design and urban planning, specifically in terms of creating livable, sustainable communities and buildings that reinforce them.

Since establishing himself early in his career as an expert in these fields, he has won national competitions and awards for his work. He is the founder and CEO of Opticos Design in Berkeley.

Over the years, he has become one of the leading practitioners of form-based coding (a revolutionary new approach to zoning about which he co-wrote what’s been called “the definitive handbook”) and he is a founding board member of the Form-Based Codes Institute.

With a strong commitment to sharing knowledge, he has taught several hundred advanced-level students through the Form-Based Codes Institute’s ongoing courses and regularly teaches workshops on new urbanism and smart growth, missing middle housing, coding and urban living.

Parolek worked in New York with the renowned architect Robert A.M. Stern where he became experienced at all scales of projects, from the smallest (private homes for Michael Eisner and Jon Bon Jovi) to mid-level (a federal courthouse in West Virginia and the renovation of Anaheim’s baseball stadium) to large (an entertainment complex at Tokyo Disney).

He has worked alongside other leading architects and urbanists, such as Léon Krier, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk and Peter Katz. He holds a Master of Urban Design from UC Berkeley and a bachelor’s in architecture from Notre Dame University.

He is a registered architect in California, Colorado and Florida.

The conference program includes keynote address, morning and afternoon break-out educational workshops on timely housing issues and topics and a concluding plenary discussion.

Breakfast, lunch and a post-conference wine reception hosted by Zaca Mesa Winery. The conference registration fee is $95 prior to May 1 or $125 after May 1 or at the door. Register online at www.coastalhousingcoalition.org.

Led by local and regional housing experts, workshop topics include “Innovative Design of High Density Housing,” “Crunching the Numbers: Housing Development in Santa Barbara County — Perception vs. Reality” and “Lack of Workforce Housing Greatly Impacts Traffic & Transportation: How New Innovations Might Help.”

Sponsors include UC Santa Barbara; Housing Authority of the City of Santa Barbara; Yardi; Buynak, Fauver, Archbald & Spray, LLP; Beachside Partners; City of Santa Barbara Community Development; First American Title Company; Kitchell; Mesa Paint; Santa Barbara City College Foundation; The Towbes Group; Union Bank; Capitol Hardware; Cottage Health; Flowers & Associates; Comstock Homes; Majestic Investment; American Riviera Bank; The Cearnal Collective LLP; City of Goleta; Deckers; Holehouse Construction; Housing Trust Fund of Santa Barbara County; Impulse Advanced Communications; MTD Santa Barbara; Santa Barbara Chamber of Commerce; Stantec Consulting Services; Suzanne Elledge Planning & Permitting Services; Terrain Consulting; Westmont College and others.

Media in-kind sponsors include Noozhawk, The Santa Barbara Independent, The Voice/CASA Magazine, Pacific Coast Business Times and Rincon Broadcasting.

The Coastal Housing Coalition is dedicated to finding solutions to Santa Barbara County South Coast’s housing crisis and reversing the adverse impacts the lack of affordable housing is having on our economic, environmental and civic life.

Founded in 2005, the organization’s goal is to encourage an increase in the supply of housing that the city’s workforce can afford through public outreach and education.

Sponsorships range from $500 to $7,500 (Title) and include tickets, logo listing, publicity, program ads, booth space and other opportunities, depending on the sponsor level.

Registration and sponsorships may be purchased at the organization’s website and donation page at www.coastalhousingcoalition.org.

Payment may also be mailed to CHC, P.O. Box 1076, Santa Barbara, CA 93102. 

For more information, contact Julia Ullemeyer at 805.570.1250 or julia@coastalhousing.org.

— Rochelle Rose is the board secretary and conference coordinator for the Coastal Housing Coalition.