Affordable Housing & Neighborhood Compatibility

By Helene Schneider

We must balance new housing developments with quality design and neighborhood compatibility. My voting record shows that I will not support developments that do not provide adequate community benefits and/or that are incompatible with the neighborhood. Examples include voting against Veronica Meadows, a dense market-rate condo project on San Pascual, a condo conversion on Upper State Street, the State Street Lofts and a 6000 square foot home on West Valerio Street.

The General Plan update must include new provisions that protect the R-3 and R-4 zones from excessive condo conversions, loss of rental housing and dense gentrification of new projects.

My accomplishments during my first term on this issue include the following:

Funding for Affordable Housing: Acting as the Redeveloping Agency Board member, I co-led the effort to reallocate $2,000,000 of RDA funds originally designated for capital projects to additional affordable housing. This was the first time the City Council had made this type of funding policy decision, and allows the City to expand its RDA affordable housing funding allocation well beyond the state-required minimum threshold of 20%.

Tenant Protections: When the Tenant Displacement Assistance Ordinance came before the City Council for a vote, I successfully lobbied my colleagues to increase the tenant assistance funding amount by an additional $1000. In my role as a member of the Housing Policy Steering Committee, I am a strong advocate towards reducing the ease of permitting condo-conversions throughout the city.

Strengthen the City's Inclusionary Housing Program: Also as a member of the Housing Policy Steering Committee, I worked to close a giant loophole in the City's current Inclusionary Housing program, which limits the requirement of providing workforce housing to projects of 10 or more units. The proposal now before the Council will reduce this threshold down to two units with a reasonable and proportional in-lieu fee option. This will reduce the number of development proposals of densely placed, large luxury condos while also giving the City funding and tools to provide workforce housing outside of its limited RDA funds.

Neighborhood Compatibility: As one of two Councilmembers on the Neighborhood Preservation Ordinance Steering Committee, I worked on the details of this new ordinance that creates strict standards for floor-area-ratios (FARs), thus ensuring neighborhood compatibility. I also voted to ensure that two members of this subcommittee were representatives from neighborhood association groups, thus adding needed strong community input into the decision-making process.

Leadership on Reducing Chronic Homelessness and Preventing Homelessness Countywide: Ending homelessness, rather than just managing the problem has been a focus of my work this first term. As Co-Chair of the Santa Barbara Countywide 10-Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness, titled "Bringing Our Community Home," I worked with over 100 community leaders to create the political will and action towards new and innovative approaches towards preventing and ending chronic homelessness. The mission of "Bringing Our Community Home," is to enhance the quality of life for all county residents as chronic homelessness is eradicated through a focus on services, treatment, supportive housing, and healthy relationships for all chronically homeless people.

Also, as Co-Chair of the South Coast Homeless Advisory Committee of Santa Barbara County, I was able to transform this 20-year committee from one that only focused on information sharing into one that provides policy guidance to South Coast cities and the County of Santa Barbara.

Finally, a significant success story. In 2005, working with a local property owner and city staff, I coordinated the permitting process to find a temporary home for residents of Transition House during the organization's 18-month remodel project, which resulted in securing shelter for 49 people during their construction period.