SB CITY COUNCIL TRIES TO OUTLAW MATH, COMMON SENSE WITH RENT CONTROL DREAMS

Well, look who's back from their taxpayer-funded siesta! KEYT NewsChannel 3-12 breathlessly reports that the Santa Barbara City Council, clearly invigorated by whatever organic kale-and-equity smoothies fuel their policy-making, is once again tilting at windmills with 'Rent Stabilization.' Apparently, their summer 'thinking time' was less about solving actual problems and more about finding new ways to ensure housing becomes even scarcer and more dilapidated.

The geniuses downtown are giving "direction" (because 'staff' can't possibly figure out how to defy basic economics on their own) on a new rent control ordinance. With 655 'public comments' to sift through – no doubt a carefully curated collection of anecdotes from those who believe the Tooth Fairy also funds affordable housing – our esteemed Council is poised to ignore generations of economic evidence demonstrating that rent control always, without fail, leads to fewer housing units, less maintenance, and ultimately, higher costs for everyone not lucky enough to be grandfathered in. It's the municipal equivalent of trying to cure a fever by breaking the thermometer.

But here's the real Whipping Post Take: while they're busy debating how many angels can dance on the head of a pin (in this case, how many ways they can legally confiscate private property without calling it that), no one's asking which well-heeled "housing advocate" groups are whispering sweet nothings into council members' ears. Follow the money, folks. These performative gestures aren't about housing; they're about campaign donations, securing future votes from a perpetually disgruntled (and subsidized) electorate, and proving how 'caring' they are before they jet off to their next climate conference on your dime. Expect more unintended consequences than a progressive policy forum.