On a downcast September day, Second District Supervisor Laura Capps and several student representatives canvassed for the rental inspection program along Del Playa Drive. The group aimed to spread awareness about the program in light of a man falling from the bluffs the previous week.
As Capps and students canvassed, they witnessed insufficient fencing at several units. Shengyu Zhang / Daily Nexus
The rental inspection program aims to address substandard housing conditions in Isla Vista (I.V.) by conducting proactive unit inspections. According to Capps, some of the most common misconceptions about the program include that tenants will be left without housing if they’re living in an unauthorized unit and that inspectors will check tenants’ immigration status during an inspection, both of which Capps hopes to dispel.
Capps, External Vice President for Local Affairs and third-year political science major E.J. Raad and representatives from the UC Santa Barbara Campus Democrats Labor Caucus and UCSB Lobby Corps passed out fact sheets to residents on Sept. 17. According to the sheet, 87% of I.V. residents are renters, 96% or college-age and 72% live below the federal poverty line. This means that I.V. residents are often first-time renters who aren’t fully aware of tenants’ rights and resources.
“What we’re trying to do with this program is flip the script because — young people, young tenants or low income tenants — they don’t necessarily know that the county has a form that you can fill out if something isn’t working in your apartment,” Capps said. “Instead, this program brings the inspectors to Isla Vista.”
The inspections are part of a year-long pilot program in which county inspectors assess properties from July through September. The county required property owners to register their properties via an online portal, and according to Capps, they had roughly a year’s notice about the program.
Notably, tenants will not pay for inspections. UCSB’s 2024 settlement with Santa Barbara County (SBC) over a lack of adequate housing funded the program.
The county schedules inspections 15 days in advance with a unit’s landlord. Landlords are then required to notify tenants of the date, however, tenants reserve the right to decline the inspection. Inspections are relatively quick, according to Capps, and afterwards, landlords are directed to address any violations that were found.
According to SBC’s Planning & Development department, inspectors have assessed 22 units on 10 different properties. Six properties have had all of their corrections addressed, with some of the most common infractions being inoperative smoke alarms, inadequate bathroom ventilation, broken garbage disposals and holes in a unit’s drywall.
Another prevalent issue pertaining to units on Del Playa Drive is whether their fencing is tall enough for county standards. The county raised the fence height requirement to six feet in 2023, as a response to numerous cliff falls. At least 14 people have died from falling off the bluffs in the past 20 years. The most recent cliff fall occurred on Sept. 13, and left a man critically injured.
“It’s pretty emotional standing [at Walter Capps Park], because just when I started in office a couple years ago, right here is where a young guy died, and that tragic death opened my eyes to the fact that these deaths were happening,” Capps said.
As Capps and students canvassed, they witnessed insufficient fencing at several units. While some did reach the height requirement, others were roughly half of what they needed to be.
The county raised the fence height requirement to six feet in 2023 as a response to numerous cliff falls. Shengyu Zhang / Daily Nexus
Capps emphasized that if a landlord doesn’t make the necessary repairs after an inspection and the unit is deemed unsafe, tenants will not be left unhoused. While no one has been evicted because of an inspection, in the event it occurs, students can utilize the University’s Rapid Rehousing Program.
Critics of the program, mainly local landlords, believe the program is a violation of tenant’s rights. In June, the Isla Vista Rental Property Owners Association filed a lawsuit against the county for the program. Capps said the lawsuit isn’t “going very well” for landlords. A Santa Barbara County Superior Court judge denied a preliminary injection on the program.
“I find [it] unconscionable, that they’re spending money on litigation rather than just fixing the places. It’s much cheaper to just fix the places than it is to sue the county. That costs a lot of money,” Capps said.
Across the several units that Capps and student representatives visited, several tenants said that they knew about the program and had already undergone an inspection. Fourth-year political science major and Lobby Corp Public Affairs Co-Chair Lily Mejia said tenants she talked to either weren’t aware of the program or had already undergone an inspection. Third-year biology major and Campus Democrats member Lauren Jansen said tenants were “appreciative” of the information.
“Say there’s exposed wiring or something, there’s a form, you can do something about it,” Capps emphasized. “A a lot of tenants [that are college-aged], they don’t know that you have more power than you think.”
A version of this article appeared on p. 7 of the Oct. 2, 2025 print edition of the Daily Nexus
