The picture painted by this year’s Santa Barbara Housing Conference was bleak. Not only does the South Coast rank in the top 25 least affordable places to live nationwide, local employers struggle to recruit and retain quality workers as they’re priced out of an impenetrably expensive market. Equally, commuters from North County and Ventura suffer highway traffic, family stress, and lower productivity.
The Coastal Housing Coalition hosted its annual confab last Friday, and it commissioned a report that found more than 70 percent of South Coast employees can’t afford to purchase a home in the region; 44 percent have considered leaving in order to live and work in an area with more affordable housing.
The region’s jobs/housing imbalance, said researcher Dr. Tim McLarney, disproportionately affects those who entered the South Coast job market after the housing boom 15 years ago. “It’s really a tale of two workforces,” he said, explaining those who’ve worked here longer are much more likely to own property — 60 percent versus 30 percent — live in the most desirable single-family units, reside in good school districts, and paid fairer prices.