South Coast Chamber of Commerce Offers Hope for Future Workforce Housing

Affordable housing means something different to everyone, and with Santa Barbara ranked fifth among most expensive U.S. cities to live, even an individual making anywhere from 80 to 120 percent of the median income (up to $90,000 per year) cannot make rent, nor can they afford to purchase a home.

In the previous housing element update cycle (2015-2023), the South Coast fell short in meeting affordable housing needs while exceeding market-rate and above-market-rate housing targets. The South Coast cities and unincorporated parts of the county in the region only issued permits for 10 percent of the needed units for those at moderate-income level, while exceeding above-market needs by 63 percent, according to data collected by the League of Women Voters of Santa Barbara. This time around, The Santa Barbara South Coast Chamber of Commerce plans to implement an employer-sponsored housing consortium program that may provide hope for this “missing middle” and serve as an example for the rest of the state. 

“It’s harder to live where you work in Santa Barbara,” said County Supervisor Laura Capps. “Now we have people commuting in from Lompoc, Goleta, or Oxnard.” Capps recalled her childhood living in Santa Barbara with her mom as a nurse and dad as a professor — two of the most common moderate-income professions in the county. Now, she says, with people commuting from out of the area, not only is the traffic bad, but “people are 45 minutes away from their kids.”

The employer-sponsored consortium program is the product of South Coast Chamber’s “Roadmap to Recovery,” a living document and long-standing effort to provide local business recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic. Its third and most current phase, “The Road Home,” focuses on revitalization and long-term job growth. The city’s lack of affordable housing for middle-income households is driving away Santa Barbara’s workforce. 

In the county, 35 percent of workers commute more than 50 miles to work on the South Coast — twice the statewide average — according to the 2022 Santa Barbara Association of Realtors Housing Affordability Study. When employers rely on commuters, they can lose intellectual talent to other states, and forfeit business growth because they cannot find housing for the people they want to hire, according to the South Coast Chamber of Commerce.

The employer-sponsored housing consortium will allow a streamlined relationship between businesses and developers to guarantee housing for employees in Santa Barbara County, said Kristen Miller, president and CEO of the South Coast Chamber of Commerce. The chamber has been working with companies of all sizes, from local chains to major tech companies, and four developments that have recently been up for rezoning — Glen Annie, San Marcos Ranch, Caird Family Properties, and Orchard (Giorgi) — all expressed readiness to collaborate. 

Employers are already investing in their people in a variety of ways. “They may offer a housing subsidy, buy a few units, or even hold positions open because they need an employee who lives close by,” Miller said. “A formalized housing consortium will take the resources they are already spending and put them in a program that is more effective and will give them a long-term return on their investment.” 

The South Coast Chamber of Commerce’s “Road to Recovery” already has a few success stories under its belt. In 2013, Ron Werft, the president and CEO of Cottage Health, was able to offer 81 “professional units” to his employees. The property, called Bella Riviera, included 115 townhomes, and with 32 sold to the public at market rate, they were able to subsidize the cost of the units their employees bought, Werft said. 

“We refer to that project as a brilliant home run,” he said, “and that’s only because it’s been so meaningful for employees who otherwise could not have afforded to buy a home here and most likely would not have stayed in Santa Barbara.”

Since 2013, more than 140 employees have owned those 81 units. At its opening, in an effort of fairness, employees were awarded housing based on a lottery system. Each employee received one ticket for every five years of work. Now, they have 65 people on a waitlist for those properties. 

Jennifer Granger Brown, a simulation coordinator at Cottage Health, bought a Bella Riviera unit with her family in 2021. Prior to her purchase, she was renting in Goleta. “It gave us the feeling that we didn’t have to move, and that I could stay with Cottage long-term,” said Brown. “It gave us this ability to enjoy our lives and have less stress over saving every penny for rent and knowing rent increases were coming consistently.” 

Bella Riviera took 10 years from conception to completion, and while the 81 units were helpful, Cottage has more than 4,000 employees. Although the board has not approved anything, there are discussions on options and alternatives for meeting the needs of those waiting. Werft is encouraged that the state is requiring the county to make more housing possible. Also promising is that the state allows any below-market-rate unit within these consortiums to be counted toward the state-mandated Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA) goals for affordable housing.

Santa Barbara Unified School District is also currently investing in housing projects. And Supervisor Capps spoke for the county in confirming that they are looking into taking underutilized county land and turning it into affordable housing. “Whenever we talk about the housing crisis, it’s important that we fully understand it’s an affordable housing crisis, not a lack of housing,” said Supervisor Capps.  

Miller and the South Coast Chamber of Commerce hope to see two housing consortiums by the end of this calendar year: one for purchase, and one for master leasing. Otherwise, it may take up to two to three years to gain approvals and build the units. Once those consortiums are formalized, “It is sort of limitless how many we can create and for how many years,” Miller said. “It can be a statewide example of employer-sponsored housing that can be copied in other jurisdictions.”