After a lengthy process, the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors on Wednesday adopted the county’s 2023-31 Housing Element Update with a 3-2 vote. 

Voting against the plan were Second District Supervisor Laura Capps and Fourth District Supervisor Bob Nelson.

“The Housing Element as a whole is far too much policy that I don’t feel that we really had an opportunity to sit here and vet,” Nelson said.

Capps, who said the vote was one of the most difficult ones she faced so far, also voted no on the plan for three main reasons.

The first, Capps said, is that the plan didn’t give her the confidence that the county would reach its affordability targets; the second is that the county is not putting up enough of its own properties to be turned into affordable housing units. Out of the 5,664 perspective units identified, only 300 units are coming from county property.

Lastly, Capps said, she is concerned about the disproportionate impact the plan would have on the Goleta Valley. About 75% of the proposed units are planned to go into into Goleta Valley and would turn agriculture land into housing. 

“We have landed with a plan that has profound impacts,” Capps said at Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting. “I’m a champion for more affordable housing, but that is not what we’re voting on today.

“We are in agreement that we need it, and what we’re voting on is a plan that falls short and is one I can’t stand behind.”

The Housing Element is mandated by the state and serves as a way to plan for current and future housing needs by identifying sites where housing could be built as well as programs that are used to address specific housing needs.

The plan is updated every eight years, and while it identifies areas where units could be built, it doesn’t mean they have to be built. 

The county identified a potential of 5,664 housing units divided into four income levels — very low, low, moderate and above moderate. Of the those, 4,142 have been allocated to the South Coast and 1,522 to the North County. 

County staff added a 15% “buffer” for lower- and moderate-income levels, which is supposed to reduce the likelihood that the county will have to rezone more sites during the planning period if a site produces less affordable units than expected.

The buffer brings the number of possible units to 6,240, according to the board letter.

In order to meet the Regional Housing Needs Allocation, the county must rezone to accommodate 100% of the proposed units at each income level.

More sites than needed were identified in order to give the board flexibility to pick and choose sites during the final rezone, according to the board letter.

The board did not take any action on potential rezone sites on Tuesday.

Now that the supervisors adopted the Housing Element Update, the county Planning Commission will make recommendations, and once the program environmental impact report analyzing potential impacts of the rezones is complete, the board will consider and select the final rezone sites and county-owned sites in early 2024, according to the board letter.

The presentation by county staff at Tuesday’s meeting said that in order to afford a two-bedroom unit priced at $2,667 a month, a renter would need to make $51 an hour to not be cost burdened. In reality, the average Santa Barbara County renter makes $29.82 an hour.

The Planning Commission recommended the Housing Element Update for approval on Nov. 8.  

More information about the Housing Element, as well as an interactive map showing potential rezone sites, is available here on the county’s website.