How You Can Help
Does the lack of housing that is affordable to the local workforce alarm you? Are you interested in protecting and preserving the housing that we have now and providing for more workforce housing in the future? You can join with the Coastal Housing Coalition as we take action to preserve the quality of life and economic health of our community. All of us have a stake in solving this housing crisis.
How you can help:
Stay informed about the employee housing needs on the South Coast by visiting our website and blog.
Support housing and land-use policies that encourage the production of employee housing. Attend city, county, and regional meetings regarding housing.
Endorse good residential developments when proposed. Write a letter or speak at a public hearing in support of workforce housing.
Make a donation to Coastal Housing Coalition.
Join our board or a working committee to help in planning our bi-annual housing conference, fundraising, or our advocacy efforts.
Please let us know if you would like us to send you periodic updates on the actions and progress of Voices for Housing as we work to promote strategies to increase the supply of housing that our local workers can afford.
PUBLIC MEETINGS - City of Santa Barbara
City meetings are broadcast live on City TV channel 18 and streamed live at https://www.santabarbaraca.gov/gov/depts/cityadmin/watch/default.asp where they are also archived and viewable on demand.
City Council Meetings are held on Tuesdays at 2pm at Council Chambers, City Hall.
Planning Commission Meetings are held on the first, second and third Thursdays of the month at 1pm at Council Chambers, City Hall.
Historic Landmarks Commission Meetings are held every other Wednesday at 1:30pm at the David Gebhard Public Meeting Room, 630 Garden St.
Architectural Board of Review Meetings are held Mondays at 3pm at the David Gebhard Public Meeting Room, 630 Garden St.
PUBLIC MEETINGS - COUNTY OF SANTA BARBARA
County Board of Supervisor Meetings and Planning Commission meetings are broadcast live on CSBTV20. They are also streamed at http://www.countyofsb.org/ceo/csbtv/home.sbc where they are also archived and viewable on demand.
County Board of Supervisors Meetings are held on three Tuesdays of the month at 9am. The first and third meetings are held in Santa Barbara in the Board of Supervisors Hearing Room, 105 East Anapamu St., 4th Floor. The second meeting is (typically) held in Santa Maria at 511 East Lakeside Parkway.
County Planning Commission Meetings are held three Wednesdays of the month at 9am. The first and third meetings are held in Santa Barbara at 123 East Anapamu Street, Room 17, and the second meeting is (typically) held in Santa Maria at 511 East Lakeside Parkway.
County Historic Landmarks Advisory Commission Meetings are held the second Monday of the month at 10am at 123 East Anapamu, Room 17 (unless specified otherwise).
CHC Public Outreach Campaign
Engaging the public and local decision makers in problem-solving to alleviate the employee housing shortage.
Our public outreach campaign is a grassroots communication effort designed to encourage decision makers and elected officials to make employee housing a priority. Through this initiative, we invite South Coast workers (especially those who would like to live closer to their jobs, rather than commuting 1-2 hours every work day), business, industry and non-profit leaders, and interested local residents to speak up for workforce and affordable housing.
We are convinced there is much latent public support for housing, far greater in number than those who speak out against it, and we’re working to assemble a large band of those supporters to let elected officials and the public-at-large know that they exist and that local workers need (and deserve) local housing.
We ask local employees to share their stories with the Coalition and decision makers about how the housing crisis is impacting them, their families and their lives. In this way, the silent majority voice of our community will be heard. The volume of this response will send a powerful message to elected officials that it is time to take action to build in-fill housing that is within the financial reach of our local employees.
The objective of the Public Outreach Campaign is to give the employees in our community the opportunity to have their voices heard, their stories told. It will give local employees the tools they need to participate in the public process and be a part of developing solutions to the housing crisis. This website provides access to information and education about housing issues, how to participate in the public process, how to speak at a public hearing, how to write a letter or send an e-mail to elected officials
We are seeking increased community involvement by:
Giving local employees an informed voice in the housing debate.
Increasing public awareness of the negative impacts that the lack of employee housing has on our quality of life.
Increasing public awareness of local employee housing successes.
How can you make a difference in solving the housing crisis?
The challenge is to persuade locally elected representatives of cities and the County to remove the barriers to “in-fill housing” so that we can begin building well-designed and appropriately located residences, affordable to our South Coast workforce. To do that, we need YOU – and many like you – to express your support before planning commissions, city councils and the Board of Supervisors in both written and spoken forms of communication.
Coastal Housing Coalition wants to hear your story. How are you affected by the housing crisis? Elected officials and decision-makers need to hear from local employees the challenges they face in trying to secure housing in this area.
For more information on Voices for Housing, please contact us at (805) 570-1250.
Meeting the needs of our local workforce.
One of CHC’s key objectives is to ensure that there is sufficient housing on the south coast to meet the needs of our local workforce (those earning between 120-200% of the area median income). We achieve this by playing an active role in reviewing and commenting on governmental policy such as General Plan updates including Housing Element updates.
We work to ensure that these policy documents support and enable the development of this type of housing whether it be rental or for sale. We also review residential projects within the local jurisdictions and provide support to those projects if they meet our criteria. When supporting a specific policy program or project our Board members will meet with decision makers, write letters and attend hearings where we provide comments.
