Growth and Housing.

By Keith J. Coffman-Grey

We need to work regionally from Gaviota to Carpinteria, Lompoc to Ventura, to ensure a "big picture" approach to growth, and we must insist on controlled growth in the South Coast.

We need to encourage affordable housing for seniors and working families. We need to include mixed-use residential/business for security, vitality and less traffic congestion in and near our Downtown area and encourage new businesses to incorporate employee housing or find creative ways to assist businesses in helping their workers to find adequate housing. And I will fight to preserve our standard of living by opposing any attempt to increase the density of our suburban neighborhoods.

I have stated my support for an ordinance requiring new construction to include a percentage for below-market housing. "Inclusionary zoning" is a land use ordinance that assists local governments such as Santa Barbara meet their housing element responsibilities. It requires developers of multiple market rate unit complexes to include a percentage of affordable, lower-than-market-rate units as well, within the development. In this way, local governments ensure that the private sector does not use all developable residential land for middle- and upper-income housing only, and the percentage of lower-wage employees who must travel from other cities declines as well, making this ordinance an environmentally friendly one.

I support the City's home improvement loan program, which offers low-interest loans to qualified homeowners for leaky roofs, peeling paint, bad plumbing and other necessary home improvements.