Chamber Weighs In on County Rezone Criteria

As part of the Chamber’s continued efforts to aid in the local housing supply crisis, the Chamber weighed in at the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors’ recent meeting to discuss potential criteria for a series of upcoming rezones scheduled for this Spring. President & CEO Kristen Miller and Public Policy Manager Dustin Hoiseth were joined by the Chamber’s housing consultant, Joe Rowan, who travelled to Santa Barbara to attend the meeting. 

One concern of the Board, which some of the criteria is meant to address, is finding a way to guarantee that housing built in this latest cycle goes to the local workforce. The Chamber and Rowan emphasized the importance of the Chamber’s Employer Sponsored Housing Consortium as a means to efficiently and collaboratively ensure housing goes to the workforce, by allowing a group of employers to act as proactive buyers that can then offer housing to their employees. 



Additionally, the Chamber held another meeting with Housing Practitioners the day after the Board of Supervisors hearing to continue to gather input and discuss next steps for the Employer Sponsored Housing Consortium program.