The Isla Vista Community Services District and Isla Vista Recreation & Park District hosted a town hall on April 11 to discuss 48 ongoing Isla Vista housing developments and gather feedback from residents in light of housing affordability and capacity issues in Isla Vista. Attendees raised their concerns about parking congestion, emergency safety and lack of suitable student housing options in Isla Vista, among others.

Representatives from the Santa Barbara County Planning & Development Department (PDD), the Santa Barbara County Fire Department and the offices of local state representatives discussed the status of housing developments in Isla Vista and their contributions to the efforts at the Isla Vista Community Center. Santa Barbara County Second District Supervisor Laura Capps moderated the event, which was attended by approximately 30 community members.

Housing in Isla Vista is more expensive than other comparable housing types throughout the county. According to data obtained by the Nexus in 2022, the median rent for two-bedroom units of any housing type is higher in Isla Vista than in any other locality near Santa Barbara. The county also settled a $3.7 million lawsuit in 2024 for the University’s failure to comply with its agreement to build housing in tandem with the growing number of admitted students.

Ethan Bertrand, district director for California State Assemblymember Gregg Hart and former president of the Isla Vista Community Services District (IVCSD), opened the meeting by declaring the need for more affordable housing in Santa Barbara County (SBC) and throughout the state. Bertrand said that California housing prices have increased 220% since 1990, while wages have only increased by 41%.

“It’s untenable, the situation we’re in, and the state has had to work with local governments to develop more housing for our communities,” Bertrand said. “This presents challenges for local communities in terms of how it can work in a way that preserves quality of life and public safety.”

Bertrand said most state housing policy is designed with large urban areas like the Bay Area and greater Los Angeles in mind, which makes it difficult to implement in smaller communities like I.V. He added that the Central Coast Legislative Caucus, of which Hart is a member, has opposed state bills that aimed to streamline housing developments further into coastal zones.

Benjamin Peterson, district representative for Senator Monique Limón, highlighted two state policies that uniquely impact housing development in Isla Vista. The Density Bonus Law, enacted in 1979, aims to expand housing development by offering developers increased unit capacity and various incentives in exchange for including a certain percentage of affordable housing in their projects. The policy is relevant due to I.V.’s deficiency of affordable housing options, which makes it applicable to developers working on housing projects in the community.

Additionally, the Builder’s Remedy, a provision in the 1982 Housing Accountability Act, permits developers to bypass local zoning and planning rules if a jurisdiction’s housing element is noncompliant with state law, allowing developers to submit streamlined projects with at least 20% affordable housing. According to Bertrand, the state is mandating that SBC constructs or plans to construct 25,000 new housing units by 2030. Bertrand implied that in order to prevent the county from falling out of compliance with the state’s mandate, the Builder’s Remedy is applicable to developments in I.V.

Travis Seawards, the deputy director of the PDD’s Development Review Division, showcased a website that will allow users to track housing developments in I.V. The website features an interactive map of I.V. marked with symbols — squares indicating multifamily housing projects and circles for accessory dwelling units (ADU), which are smaller, independent housing units located on the same lot as a primary residence. When users click on a symbol, the project’s name, address, case numbers, number of units and number of parking spaces will be shown. Seaward said the website will be released in the next two weeks.

County Director of Planning & Development Lisa Plowman noted that many of the housing developments in I.V. are ADUs. According to the California Department of Housing and Community Development, ADUs are an “effective” solution for adding affordable housing options. However, these developments have caused issues, which include illegal conversions of spaces into ADUs and resident concerns about increased parking congestion.

“It was surprising to me to see how many [development] applications there were in Isla Vista,” Plowman said. “As we were going through them, we were realizing that a number of these are attempts to legalize illegal conversions. So, garages that were converted to a unit, but there are some properties where they’re actually building a structure.”

There are currently 31 coastal development permits issued for ADUs in I.V. and seven ADU permit applications that are pending approval, according to SBC planner David Billesbach.

PDD representatives also discussed multifamily projects, or residences designed to house multiple households. According to SBC planner Willow Brown, there are currently 10 proposed or ongoing multifamily projects in I.V., which amount to 228 units, 85 vehicle parking spaces and 565 bicycle parking spaces. Developments located at 6587 Cervantes Road and 6737 Sueno Road have been approved by the county’s planning commission. Other projects are in the process of receiving approval by the planning commission.

One of the primary concerns raised by community members during the town hall was parking congestion. Several attendees acknowledged that many students living in I.V. rely on their cars, but said there isn’t enough parking to accommodate every resident’s vehicle, which can lead to safety concerns such as blocked driveways and parking in red zones.

“I can’t remember the last time I saw a parking enforcement officer in Isla Vista,” said one resident, who did not share their name. “My wife was an [intensive care unit] nurse, and one night when she was on call, our driveway was blocked.”

Another resident, who did not disclose their name, shared this concern, saying they worried about what could happen in an emergency.

“[I.V.] is less than two square miles, yet we’ve got 17,500-plus people here — all with their cars, all trying to get out at the same time,” they said. “‘Have you heard there’s a fire?’ It’s not going to be orderly. I just know it. We’re already at capacity when it comes to safety, which is why we’re so concerned.”

Students at the town hall discussed their concerns about the current state of housing for UC Santa Barbara students. The University’s San Benito Housing development will create 2,224 student bed spaces and is set to be opened by fall 2027. The East Campus Housing project will add approximately 1,275 new student beds and is currently in a planning phase.

“I pay $905 in rent every single month, and for that, I share a 765-square-foot apartment with three other people, which was built in 1962 and has not been updated or renovated in any way since then,” fourth-year political science and anthropology double major Ella Spring said. “We have three different colors of mold in our apartment. You want to talk about safety? Let’s talk about that.”

Spring said that poor conditions persist because landlords in I.V. face little pressure to improve, which she believes could be solved with more housing developments.

“Landlords don’t care because they don’t have to care. We’re students. We’re broke, and because of that, we just have no power,” Spring said. “If there were to be more housing, if we were able to have the ability to be more choosy in where we stay, landlords would be forced to raise their standards and potentially lower rent.”

Damon Dvorson, fourth-year statistics and data science major and the creator of Housing Helper — an app that helps students find housing, roommates and subleasers — said that the University’s on-campus housing contract process contributes to the problem by delaying some students’ off-campus housing searches. 

“On Housing Helper, we saw a huge spike in activity after the University released housing contract decisions,” Dvorson said. “Many users were frustrated because, by then, most of the better off-campus options were already gone. It feels unfair because if students don’t get on-campus housing, they also miss out on decent off-campus options.”

The town hall concluded after around 12 community members voiced their concerns.

“This is a very small area, and it’s highly impacted already,” said one resident who did not disclose their name. “There is an elephant in the room, and that’s the University. Where is the accountability to the University? They keep expanding and expanding to their heart’s content, yet they don’t want to hear it. They don’t want to listen to concerns.”