Wealthy California city erupts in war over rent crisis

A super-rich California city has splintered over a rent freeze that local property owners claim is unconstitutional.

The Santa Barbara City Council enacted a temporary moratorium in February on rent increases citywide for older units.

A group of homeowners and the Santa Barbara Property Owners Association filed a lawsuit against the freeze last month, branding it unconstitutional and arguing council members abused their power.

The move had been approved 4–3 with property owners arguing those that voted in favor “abused [the council’s] discretion in introducing and adopting the Ordinances and failed to comply with its own charter.”

The suit also says the council “recklessly hastened the legislative process,” and that Councilmembers Wendy Santamaria and Kristen Sneddon introduced “a novel rent ordinance without public notice.”

The city of Santa Barbara and the council members disregarded public comment from property owners, the suit says, including that “some of the councilmembers laughed, shook their heads, or rolled their eyes at the concerns of distressed commenters, demonstrating an impenetrable bias.”

Property owners and real estate advocates are framing the rent freeze as taking rights away from them.

“Let’s clear up some disinformation,” Santa Barbara real estate agent Don Katich told the city council as they prepared to vote on amendments towards a permanent ordinance last week.

“Rent stabilization is a chosen narrative to frame what is in truth the taking of property rights. And despite the label, there is nothing stabilizing about this policy.”

But most of the speakers spoke in favor of the freeze, according to SFGATE. Some urged the city council to stay strong under fire.

“Don’t undercut your legacies by undermining the rent stabilization ordinance through providing additional exemptions or by giving landlords loopholes through which to displace tenants,” Santa Barbara resident Matt Larkins told the city council. “Stay strong and stay focused. We need you.”

“Our community can neither afford inaction nor a watered-down policy that fails to meaningfully protect renters from further exploitation and displacement,” longtime Santa Barbara resident Cressida Silvers told the city council.

“Rent stabilization is community stabilization. We are all impacted without it. Our family owns our home and we feel it every day. The constant churn of neighbors being forced to relocate erodes the fabric of our city,” Silvers added.

Santa Barbara Mayor Randy Rowse, who voted against the rent freeze, publicly acknowledged the division.

“We’re a divided council. We’ve made that obvious a number of times,” he said. “And that’s unfortunate. And we probably need to take these major issues to the public to get the right answer.”

City staff are set to return to the council for a draft ordinance for a more permanent solution in June.

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