COUNTY SUPES: MORE 'INCLUSION,' LESS HOUSING, LOTS OF PAPERWORK!

The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors, in their infinite wisdom, has decided to convene a hearing to discuss tweaking Chapter 46A of the County Code – otherwise known as the Inclusionary Housing Ordinance. Ostensibly, this is about making housing more 'accessible,' but as usual, the devil’s in the details, or in this case, the dizzying amount of bureaucratic fluff that surrounds it.

While the Board dedicates precious taxpayer time to meticulously amending sections 46A-2 and 46A-6(e-f), they've conveniently declared that this whole exercise 'does not constitute a project' under CEQA. Because, of course, shuffling papers and demanding developers pony up more cash has absolutely no impact on the environment or, you know, the actual creation of housing units. It's just 'organizational or administrative activity of government,' which sounds an awful lot like what happens when a hamster runs on a wheel.

One can’t help but wonder who truly benefits from these endless 'amendments' and 'updates.' It's certainly not the average working family trying to find an affordable place to live in this county. No, this looks suspiciously like another maneuver to further empower the County’s planning apparatus, create more compliance hurdles, and funnel more developer dollars into… well, that’s the million-dollar question, isn't it? Meanwhile, the 'affordable' housing crisis remains, largely unaffected by these grand administrative gestures, as builders flee to less hostile regulatory climates. Expect more reports, more hearings, and decidedly fewer actual homes.

The real story, as always, isn’t about housing for the masses, but about control for the mandarins. Each tweak of the code is a new lever of power, a fresh opportunity for the County to dictate terms, collect fees, and expand its dominion over every square foot of land, all under the guise of 'inclusion.'