GOLETA'S LATEST 'SUPPORTIVE HOUSING' SCHEME: TAXPAYERS, GET READY FOR SUPPORT!

The Santa Barbara Independent, ever the earnest chronicler of county-sanctioned cheerleading, recently reported on the grand unveiling of Patterson Point in Goleta. This 23-unit 'supportive housing' complex, we're told, is a triumph, a testament to... well, to something. It certainly wasn't a triumph for common sense, or for the fiscal sanity of residents who will be footing the bill for this latest installment in the left's endless cycle of 'solutions' that only create more problems.

Local officials, never ones to miss a photo opportunity that distracts from their dismal records on everything from crumbling infrastructure to crippling regulations, were on hand to gush about their benevolence. We're sure the champagne flowed freely, purchased with the same tax dollars that could have, say, fixed the potholes on Patterson Avenue or perhaps even offered a tax cut. But no, instead we get another project designed not to empower individuals to achieve self-sufficiency, but to entrench them further into a system of government dependency, all while providing cushy jobs for an ever-expanding bureaucracy of 'supportive services' staff.

What the Independent conveniently omitted, and what our eagle-eyed Whipping Post readers understand, is the real story here: the escalating cost to taxpayers, the inevitable 'mission creep' that will expand these programs, and the cynical political calculus behind it all. Every new unit, every new 'service,' is another notch on the belt of progressive politicians who care more about virtue signaling and expanding their power than truly addressing the root causes of societal issues. The 'supportive' part, as always, seems to be supporting the politicians' careers and the government's budget, not the community.

Meanwhile, the rest of us continue to deal with a housing crisis exacerbated by these very same officials' overzealous zoning laws and anti-development policies, which make it nearly impossible for private enterprise to build affordable homes. But don't worry, they've got this! Just keep those tax checks coming, and they'll keep building their socialist utopia, one 'supportive housing' unit at a time. It’s almost enough to make you wish President Trump would send an audit team to see where all this 'support' money is really going.