It was a big week on the housing beat and Newsmakers TV's All-Star Panel of Top Local Journalists has all the latest, from Mission Canyon to Paseo Nuevo, plus the rest of Santa Barbara's top stories.
Post two martini (my disclaimer) comment: Epic /wonderfully lively show. Love Christina’s housing articles/she understands that there is no magic bullet. That said, a few facts for everyone to chew on: Many national studies peg 8% as a healthy vacancy rate that will drive pricing down (supply and demand). SB’s vacancy rate—and, no, I’m not a “build baby build” Guy—anemic 1.7%. We need more housing! Affordable alternatives are imperative (housing element/new trust fund) but the issue here is the reality that our city council caved to out of town union labor that has driven the cost—per single unit—.to an insane $1M. We could build 40% more housing using LOCAL non union labor (gotta love money in politics:)) Finally, NW was spot on talking about a generational inflection point. Because I’m a relative newbie (got here in 1998) I have a difficult time understanding the idea that Paseo Nuevo should somehow stay the same when it’s a mall that has lost it’s anchor stores. News Flash: The world has changed and if the $4.5B AB commercial walks (they don’t need the SB-hassle!) then what is the alternative? Captain Obvious: Never let the perfect get in the way of the good. If Paseo Nuevo blows-up it will leave an economic black hole in the center of our already decimated downtown corridor sucking what little economic activity we have with it. We once had a world class brand but we are swiftly racing to the bottom and rather than lamenting the decent, some are actually throwing fuel on the fire. Baffling.
Oh, sorry, one last thing. You don’t have to go back to Levittown in the 1950’s to show that supply and demand is more than theoretical. Austin TX—rental prices decreased by 21% in 2024–is the well know lm poster child for “the supply effect.”
Post two martini (my disclaimer) comment: Epic /wonderfully lively show. Love Christina’s housing articles/she understands that there is no magic bullet. That said, a few facts for everyone to chew on: Many national studies peg 8% as a healthy vacancy rate that will drive pricing down (supply and demand). SB’s vacancy rate—and, no, I’m not a “build baby build” Guy—anemic 1.7%. We need more housing! Affordable alternatives are imperative (housing element/new trust fund) but the issue here is the reality that our city council caved to out of town union labor that has driven the cost—per single unit—.to an insane $1M. We could build 40% more housing using LOCAL non union labor (gotta love money in politics:)) Finally, NW was spot on talking about a generational inflection point. Because I’m a relative newbie (got here in 1998) I have a difficult time understanding the idea that Paseo Nuevo should somehow stay the same when it’s a mall that has lost it’s anchor stores. News Flash: The world has changed and if the $4.5B AB commercial walks (they don’t need the SB-hassle!) then what is the alternative? Captain Obvious: Never let the perfect get in the way of the good. If Paseo Nuevo blows-up it will leave an economic black hole in the center of our already decimated downtown corridor sucking what little economic activity we have with it. We once had a world class brand but we are swiftly racing to the bottom and rather than lamenting the decent, some are actually throwing fuel on the fire. Baffling.
Oh, sorry, one last thing. You don’t have to go back to Levittown in the 1950’s to show that supply and demand is more than theoretical. Austin TX—rental prices decreased by 21% in 2024–is the well know lm poster child for “the supply effect.”