The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors on Thursday approved an urgency ordinance to amend its rules for just cause for residential evictions, two days after dozens of Isla Vista residents showed up to share the stress and fear of receiving eviction notices.
The ordinance will protect future renters from being evicted for a renovation that is deemed “insubstantial,” according to the county.
The meeting was held in response to hundreds of so-called renovictions being imposed on Isla Vista residents.
Chicago-based company CoreSpaces purchased the CBC & The Sweeps apartment complexes in Isla Vista and issued notices of termination to all 264 units in March. The company plans to renovate the buildings and evict all residents while the work is completed.
The evictions would displace an estimated 800 to 1,000 people.
“This is about a lot more than one housing complex. It’s about rents here in Santa Barbara, which we know are the highest across the country for any small city,” county Supervisor Laura Capps said.
She said the property’s new owner is an “out of state and out of touch landlord” who doesn’t understand the community and didn’t provide the notices of termination in any language other than English.
“We’re doing our best to try to help you,” Capps said to the tenants at the meeting.
About 45 members of the public spoke during the meeting, and another 30 people spoke at Tuesday’s board meeting.
Ryan Bell, Southern California regional coordinator for Tenants Together, said renovictions are becoming more frequent across California.
“It’s not (tenants’) fault that they’re being displaced,” Bell said. “Even though the renovations might be useful and important and essential, the tenant should have the right to return to their home once the renovation is done as any homeowner would return to their home after the renovation is done.”
Riley Vasquez Jimenez, a mother and full-time student who works two jobs and lives with her family in Isla Vista, is one of the tenants who received a notice of termination. She worries she will not be able to find housing in Santa Barbara because many landlords will not approve applicants who do not make at least three times the rent.
“I can’t even see my child some days,” Jimenez said. “The only time I see her is when she comes to eat at the restaurant. How am I supposed to overcome this and graduate if I can’t make ends meet?
“I’m scared I’m gonna be homeless with my child.”
“The thought of kids being displaced not only from their homes but from their school communities is absolutely devastating,” said Ethan Bertrand, a Goleta Union School District board member and legislative staffer for Assemblyman Gregg Hart.
The just cause eviction ordinance changes are modeled off the City of Santa Barbara’s. They require owners and landlords to “obtain all permits necessary to carry out the substantial remodel, serve tenants with a copy of the permits for remodeling, along with a written notice stating the reason for the lease termination, the type and scope of work to be performed, and why the work requires the tenant to vacate the residential property for at least 30 days.”
All four supervisors voted to approve the urgency ordinance, which alters the county code for just cause residential evictions. Supervisor Bob Nelson was absent.
“Your stories are soul crushing,” Supervisor Steve Lavagnino said after public comment. He said the board needs to be proactive and “that means building the houses we’ve failed to build in this county.”
Supervisor Joan Hartmann said building more housing is important, but it isn’t enough.
“We need to make sure the housing is going to the people who live here and want to work here and contribute to the fabric of the community,” she said.
“The reality is for 43 years there was not a single private apartment building built in the city of Santa Barbara, most of my lifetime,” said Supervisor Das Williams, a former Santa Barbara City Council member. “We cannot deprive a rental market of new apartments for that long without it affecting price as well as other items.
“So, I could blame this company, and I definitely do, but I think it’s also important to for us to blame ourselves and our own history.” Local housing history has “some real dark moments to it.”
During public comment at Tuesday’s meeting, CBC & The Sweeps tenants told supervisors they’ve suffered weeks of stress and tension since they received the notices. Some said they may become homeless if they get evicted.
One woman, who spoke while holding her newborn baby, said she hasn’t had time to recover since her family has been going from place to place looking for a place to live.
Frank Rodriguez of CAUSE said the county is “always reacting to mass evictions” and needs to enact strong laws to prevent cases like this in the future. He said a 2008 mass eviction on Modoc Road led to the creation of the current just cause for residential evictions ordinance.
Several UC Santa Barbara students said they and their roommates might have to move out of the area to find somewhere affordable to live.
“If this eviction goes through, I’m not sure what I’ll do,” one student said.
Noozhawk managing editor Giana Magnoli contributed reporting to this story.
