Santa Barbara: A County Divided By Housing

California's pricey Santa Barbara county provides a case study of how the need for new housing need is facing NIMBYism from wealthier residents who don't want more growth.

1 minute read

August 19, 2003, 4:00 AM PDT

By Chris Steins @planetizen

"...This year, the 200,000 residents of [Santa Barbara] county's wealthy south coast have seen the median home price shoot as high as $900,000, the highest among 20 state regions monitored by the California Assn. of Realtors. The northern half of the county has a median home price of less than $300,000, so it has increasingly become a commuter region for the south... Now county officials are talking about building more new housing in the north, even though political leaders there point out that the housing shortage is in the south. And some north county residents, even those who are generally pro-development, say they have had it with the south's dumping its problems on them."

Thanks to Chris Steins

FULL STORY: Santa Barbara County Split by Housing Crisis

Monday, August 18, 2003 in The Los Angeles Times

Housing California

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