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Supervisors moved this week to finance a new affordable apartment complex in Eastern Goleta Valley, took up the county's annual federal housing spending plan, and renewed a long list of contracts that keep homeless services and supportive housing running.
The headline price fell 9% year-over-year, yet price per square foot climbed nearly 9%, pointing to a shift in what's actually selling.
A jump in 30-year rates pushed the monthly payment on a median-priced Santa Barbara home to 106% of local median household income.
A typical Santa Barbara household now sends nearly half its income to the landlord, even as rent growth has slowed to just 1.5% over the past year.
A 13% drop in the headline price masks a 6.7% rise in per-square-foot pricing, suggesting buyers shifted toward smaller homes this spring.
County supervisors advanced a new ordinance steering newly built homes toward local buyers and workers, while planners previewed sweeping changes to how housing projects get approved without hearings. Homeless services funding also dominated the May 12 agenda.
The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors met on May 12 with a packed housing agenda, advancing a new local-preference housing ordinance, lining up several million dollars in…