The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to approve District 2 Supervisor Laura Capps’ Rental Housing Inspection Pilot Program, which would proactively investigate housing in Isla Vista for building and health code violations.
The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the Isla Vista rental housing Inspection Program on May 6. Photo Courtesy Santa Barbara County board meeting video.
The Rental Housing Inspection Pilot Program draws on county settlement funds from a housing lawsuit in 2024, allocating $600,000 from a $3.7 million settlement fund. It is the first program in Isla Vista where county employees would proactively investigate housing instead of following up on complaints from the tenants.
In January, the board gave direction for the establishment of the pilot program. It will begin in June, investigating Del Playa Drive property units over the summer. The entire program will take place over 12 months.
Santa Barbara County (SBC) Planning & Development Senior Land Use Planner Corina Venegas Martin said 87% of Isla Vista residents are renters, 96% are college-student aged and nearly 70% are at or below the poverty line, according to recent United States Census data.
“Many of these students are living independently for the first time and are exposed to unsafe living conditions. Some examples of these conditions may include rodents, lack of heat and smoke detectors, illegal conversions of non-habitable space and unsafe balconies, decks and similar conditions,” Martin said.
I.V. property owners will be required to register their rental housing units within 45 days of the board’s adoption of the program. The information includes the most current information for property owners, which would be used to notify property owners about inspections, to provide inspection results and provide information on any necessary corrective actions.
Under the program, Planning & Development Department Director Lisa Plowman is authorized to periodically inspect rental housing units, or upon receiving complaints. The property owner will be notified 15 days before the scheduled inspection, be responsible for notifying the tenant of the inspection and facilitate access to the unit and are required to be present during the inspection.
However, if the property owner is unavailable, the inspection can proceed with the tenant’s consent. Access to the unit may be provided through an inspection warrant or the tenant’s authorization.
The property owner may request a one-time extension to the scheduled inspection.
The next step is for the county to hire an independent firm to handle the inspections. In the meantime, Planning & Development is working on a rental housing unit registration database and will work on researching the history of the rental units.
“This is [a] very unique situation,” Capps said. “We really have a dangerous trifecta in Isla Vista that’s very unique, unlike other places in the county as you have, as you well know, a dangerous bluff, that really opened my eyes to the living conditions that many of the 23,000 tenants living in Isla Vista deal with on a daily basis.”
Capps said there were “exorbitant rents” in I.V., at $3,000 a bedroom, and expensive security deposits that “do not translate into an upkeep of these substandard living conditions.” She added that many landlords “take advantage of” young renters.
District 3 Supervisor Joan Hartmann, who was the former District 2 supervisor, asked how many rental housing units there are in Isla Vista and how planning and development would coordinate with the fire department, as they do annual inspections of apartments, buildings and condominiums with three or more units. Additionally, she asked how they would coordinate with environmental health services on issues of mold.
SBC Assistant Planning Director Jeff Wilson said there are hundreds of rental units in the Isla Vista community, and they “wouldn’t be able to inspect all of them” in the 12-month period. He said they project to inspect 70 properties that have anywhere from four to 10 units on each one.
“There are components of it that do require the health office determination in regards to either mold or rodents or insects, and that’s where we coordinate with environmental health services for that determination to be made,” Wilson said.
One person in the public comment period noted that the language should be clear that landlords cannot punish tenants for allowing the inspection to take place and that students can propose amendments to the inspection program.
In response to External Vice President for Local Affairs Owen Meyers citing concerns over tenants being displaced and landlords enacting ‘renovictions’ — where they raise rent rates after making tenants leave for renovations — Capps said the county is working with the University to provide housing to accommodate any displaced students.
“We will make sure that no student is displaced and [UC Santa Barbara] is there,” Capps said.
A version of this article appeared on p. 3 of the May 15, 2025 edition of the Daily Nexus.
