Santa Barbara City Council’s amendment to the code requiring 10 percent inclusionary rental housing across the board still leaves a significant portion of the working poor out of the equation.
I now realize that it does not matter the percentage of inclusionary. The affordability of inclusionary does not meet the federal Housing and Urban Development (HUD) definition of extremely low income, which is predominantly Santa Barbara’s Spanish speaking workers and families. AUD (the city's Average Unit-size Density program) addresses affordability in theory, but in practicality, it does not help those most vulnerable and in need of true affordability.
The solution is land banking and removing private
developers out of the affordable housing business. Successful cities partner
with a nonprofit community development corporation or their local housing
authority to create affordable housing as a mechanism for poverty reduction.