Regarding the June 11 article, “Public Comment Opens For Santa Barbara Ordinance on Rent Limits, Housing Registry,” the estimate of housing deficits for America now tops 4 million.
At the close of World War II, soldiers returned to find a shortage of 2.5 million homes. They lived with parents, in shacks and the YMCA, and protested ”From foxholes to shacks, and the foxholes were bigger.”
Building took precedence and Levittown, Pennsylvania, began making houses on a mass scale. Builds rose from 362,00 a year in 1945 to 2 million annually in 1950.
Ten percent of starter families lived in group housing then, called SROs (single room occupancies). But this went culturally out of vogue, and Santa Barbara County even tried to outlaw nonfamily group homes in 1982, but was reversed by the California Supreme Court.
In 1982, America had 40% of new home builds at 1,400 square feet or less, considered starter home sizes. This has declined to 9% as of 2023.
Global warming is causing such regulations that a house cannot be built in California without insulating it like it was in Vermont.
“You can’t regulate your way out of a housing crisis,” Federal Housing Administration commissioner Frank Cassidy says today. “You need to build your way out of it.”
Be it culture, regulations and emergencies real or imagined, we must build, fast and cheap. It can always be improved later for aesthetics or upgrades.
Rent “stabilization” is like suggesting moped brakes on an 18-wheeler. It does not even understand the issue.
And we do not want to stabilize where we are at. We need to build and drop rents by half, and have enough for every single renter or owner in America.
David Sullins
Santa Barbara
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Housing affordability politics. City Councilwomen Kristen Sneddon and Meagan Harmon, and others, have shown little knowledge of basic market economics by supporting new inefficiencies, which they term “rent stabilization,” to deal with the current housing market dysfunction rather than addressing underlying drivers of high prices: lack of enough housing.
These are some reasons NOT to go forward with government rent control, currently euphemistically called “rent Stabilization”:
- By capping returns while leaving costs uncontrolled, rent control pushes many small “mom‑and‑pop” landlords to sell, reducing diversity of ownership and local stewardship.
- Rent control shrinks rental supply over time as owners convert units to condos, short‑term rentals or owner‑occupied housing.
- It discourages maintenance and reinvestment, leading to deteriorating building quality and less attractive housing stock.
- Early “winners” are long‑tenured, often better‑off incumbents, not the lower‑income households who most need help.
- It raises rents and search times for everyone outside the protected pool, especially new residents and younger families.
- Targeted subsidies and policies that expand housing supply do a far better job of improving affordability without the damaging side effects.
John Burk
Santa Barbara
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Regarding the June 9 article, “Board of Supervisors Approves $380,000 Salary for Next County Executive Officer,” I imagine it’s rather like that for fire and police chiefs — with an automatic lifetime retirement benefit after 10-15 years, followed by another job in another town, and another lifetime retirement benefit. (Apologies if I’m wrong.)
The “second story” trade hasn’t changed, it’s just gone professional.
Ah, well, I just got old too soon and smart too late.
Jim Colgrove
Santa Maria
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$380,000 to do what?!
Mary Lu Edick
Santa Barbara
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Santa Barbara is fortunate to be home to some of the most quietly generous philanthropic people and institutions in the country.
The Coeta and Donald Barker Foundation is among them, and SafeLaunch would like to take this opportunity to say thank you publicly.
Their support made it possible for eight graduating Santa Barbara County high school seniors to receive a 2026 SafeLaunch Scholarship Award to help them pursue education, training and the futures they have worked hard to build.
SafeLaunch was founded in 2010 on a straightforward belief: if young people decide not to use substances before the age of 21, they dramatically reduce their lifetime risk of addiction. We promote that choice through education, drug free clubs and the arts.
The Barker Foundation’s support allows us to do more of that work, and to honor the courage it takes for a young person to stand out as an individual and choose a different path.
The Coeta and Donald Barker Foundation invests deeply in this region’s nonprofit community in ways most people never see. We are grateful to put their generosity to work for local students who have earned every opportunity coming to them.
Janet Rowse
Santa Barbara
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It’s the end of the school year, and the close of my 34-year teaching career at Santa Barbara High School!
Deciding to teach was one of the best decisions of my life. I’m grateful for the opportunity to make learning my daily task with students who have taught me so much.
But my gratitude today goes to MTD and Line 20 from Santa Barbara to Carpinteria, and especially to the bus driver, Mr. Abraham.
I shared my car with my daughter this year, so I carpooled and took the bus. Every bus ride was lovely, beginning with Mr. Abraham’s friendly greeting.
For about 30 minutes, I sat peacefully and comfortably, either reading or looking out the window. After driving in traffic for so many years, the calming bus ride was one of the perfect ways to end my career.
Maggie Light
Carpinteria
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