During the past four to five years, the mayor and City Council have focused their concerns with renter protections, and only recently with housing the homelessness. In 2017, the council voted to appropriate almost $30,000 for a mediator for the Landlord/Tenant Task Force. In the end, the council did not accept many of the recommendations, despite months of deliberation by the group.
In further disregard of the Landlord/Tenant Task Force, when considering a Just Cause eviction and relocation assistance ordinance, Councilmember Kristen Sneddon requested funding for a study to analyze relocation fees in Santa Barbara. (Understand that this was on the heels of the passage of AB 1482 by the state to have tenants compensated for one month’s rent for Just Cause evictions.) While deliberating the figure of relocation assistance, Mayor Cathy Murillo stated that she wanted the maximum amount to be five to six times the monthly rent. Again, landlords and tenants weighed into the process. The Keyser/Marston study returned with the recommendation of one-and-a-half times rent relocation was fair in Santa Barbara.
Councilmembers Sneddon and Meagan Harmon did not believe that one-and-a-half times the rent was enough, completely disregarding the recommendations. Perhaps a prophetic response came from Alejandra Gutierrez, quoted by the Independent, who said, “I think that we didn’t really acknowledge the study and went by emotions. I think the study really gave us good information, and now thinking about it, I’d like to request that we reopen this agenda item for discussion and really look at the pros and the cons and long-term effect to the city.” Ultimately, the amount of relocation assistance was voted for three times the monthly rent, with Murillo, Sneddon, and Harmon all voting above the study recommendations, and despite City Attorney Ariel Calonne stating that if the amount were challenged legally, he could only defend the study’s recommended amount.