No Place To Call Home


There are certain evergreen stories along the South Coast, one of which is housing — or lack of it.

Isla Vista, for example, has lots of housing — and with the annual exodus of tens of thousands of students comes obscene amounts of trash.

But not everyone can afford to rent in this city.

In this fall’s “Off the Grid” story, the Beacon explored what people do when they are unwilling or unable to pay up. Some have set up elaborate camps beneath railroad bridges, where they remain below the radar. They live on private Union Pacific property, the company apparently doesn’t care too much and the ‘urban campers’ live in peace.

The story also highlighted a handful of other locals living off the grid, some in tents and yurts on the Mesa, others in a formerly derelict camper trailer park in Carpinteria and still more in RVs in Goleta.

Coincidentally, the RV issue is one that’s plagued the area for years — and it too came to a head this year.

Earlier in the year, the city decided to ticket RV dwellers who had for years parked in lots and streets around town. Many who had lived on roads near the beach suddenly found themselves ticketed everywhere they parked for the night, so they had to move. Signs went up around town, and the RV dwellers looked like they had the short end of the stick.

The county, however, decided to lend a helping hand. Officials studied the RV situation, investigated potential parks and passed ordinances allowing RVs to stay in the lots of charitable organizations.

What irritated city officials was the county’s approval to let RVs park in county-owned lots within city limits.

But it’s tough to know what to do or where to go in the South Coast, especially when there are all sorts of building moratoriums, particularly in areas like Goleta.

Building homes, and particularly affordable homes, has always caused controversy, and that became apparent this winter, when the Beacon investigated the second unit issue surrounding local city and county governments.

Effective July 1, Assembly Bill1866 was intended to boost housing and speed up the required permitting for second units by cutting down on public review. Housing advocates, however, say South Coast city governments are only paying lip service to the bill, and the resulting feuds have created situations where a county resident might build a second unit with relative ease, while a neighbor just down the street — but within city limits — has trouble.

– Nathan S. Welton