Santa Barbara County will start an Isla Vista housing inspection program in response to reports of poor conditions including mold, leaks, and lack of heating.
There have also been incidents of balconies collapsing at Del Playa apartment buildings along the bluffs, due to erosion.
On Tuesday the Board of Supervisors directed the Planning and Development department to draft an ordinance creating the pilot program.
“By and large we hear so much of repairs not being done, security deposits not being returned because these are young tenants and low income tenants,” said Second District Supervisor Laura Capps, who represents Isla Vista and proposed the program. “Firmly I believe that even if you’re young, even if you’re low-income, you deserve safety, you deserve cleanliness, you deserve a nice place to live.”
Currently, the county Planning and Development Department can inspect potentially unsafe living conditions if a resident files a complaint.
However, some residents may not be aware of the option or don’t feel safe advocating to their landlord for better living conditions, said Eleanor Gartner, a member of Capps’ district office staff. The goal is to support low-income tenants, improve living conditions, and increase accountability for landlords and property owners.
Last March, the county received $3.7 million in settlement funds from UC Santa Barbara to resolve the university’s failure to create enough housing for students.
Of those funds, $600,000 was designated to go towards a housing inspection pilot program to ensure safe housing conditions for students.
Third District Supervisor Joan Hartmann, who used to represent Isla Vista before the county drew new district boundaries in 2022, said she was glad to see this happening and that the housing market can be a “predatory environment” in Isla Vista.
“The problem is you got people who are converting closets, they’re building lofts, they’re creating four bedrooms out of a garage and people double up,” Hartmann said. “There are electrical wires and issues with mold, it is not a good situation. It’s not where you want to send your kids off to school.”
When the inspection program was first discussed in July, Fourth District Supervisor Bob Nelson had some initial reservations, saying they’re difficult to operate and have been shuttered in other areas, including San Luis Obispo.
However, he had a new tone on Tuesday after visiting Isla Vista with Capps to see housing conditions for himself.
“I saw places that obviously had not had fixes on properties for years,” Nelson said.
Nelson said that property owners that regularly maintain and upkeep their properties shouldn’t be concerned by this program, but it will help to ensure owners are reinvesting in properties that they charge high rents for.
“It does appear to me that some of them are just trying to take what they can get while it still exists, before it falls into the ocean, and that’s not a great position to put many of the young people in our community in, or anybody for that matter,” Nelson said.
The planning and development department will now be working on developing framework for the program and will return to the board later this year for approval, with the goal to launch the program this summer.
The UCSB settlement also funded $82,000 for the Isla Vista Community Services District parking study. Another $1.38 million was used to match funding for the district’s mobility plan, which unlocked an additional $8 million for street lighting and other pedestrian improvements. About $500,000 will be used to construct a permanent public restroom along Del Playa Drive and $250,000 went to fund improvements at Children’s Park in Isla Vista.