Action Needed: Santa Barbara Rent Freeze Ordinance!
Santa Barbara City Council is moving forward with a proposed rent freeze ordinance that includes retroactive provisions and is intended to serve as a bridge to permanent rent stabilization. While the ordinance is being framed as temporary, its impacts begin immediately and will carry long-term consequences for housing supply, affordability, and local housing providers.
This proposal retroactively changes the treatment of lawful rent decisions made before the ordinance existed and imposes an absolute rent freeze even as costs such as insurance, utilities, taxes, and maintenance continue to rise. These elements raise serious legal concerns and create predictable economic harm that will not be cured by a sunset clause.
Once housing is lost, reinvestment is deferred, or small providers exit the market, those impacts are permanent.
We Need Your Help
City Council needs to hear directly from the people who live, work, invest, and provide housing in Santa Barbara. We are asking you to take a few minutes to engage and help ensure decision-makers understand the real-world consequences of this ordinance.
Please take the following actions:
- Email City Council and urge them to vote NO on the proposed rent freeze ordinance. Share how this policy affects housing stability, maintenance, affordability, or long-term planning.
- Encourage others to take action, including clients, colleagues, neighbors, and community members who care about housing outcomes.
- Attend the City Council meeting on January 13, 2026 at 2:00 PM ** TIME CHANGE** The Rent Freeze Ordinance will be heard today at 5pm (not 2pm as previously agendized). Wear black to show unified, respectful concern about the impacts of this ordinance.
Housing policy works best when it is grounded in facts, law, and long-term outcomes, not urgency or symbolism. Your voice matters, and timely engagement can still influence how the City proceeds.
Preview/Edit Letter to City Council
Frequently Asked Questions: Tenant Protection Ordinances:
For more information, visit Temporary Rent Increase Moratorium Ordinance - FAQs
For meeting materials and additional details, visit Rent Stabilization
