Supporters & Comments

Organizations

Individuals

“Santa Barbara is the most beautiful area in California. It is the perfect place to host a destination wedding. That is why my wife and I decided on Santa Barbara as our wedding backdrop. We each got a STR for our wedding parties. And since her family is from NorCal and mine is from SoCal, each of our families decided to rent out more STRs. It was a great week to be married and the convenience of having a STR is unrivaled. We would not have had the same experience by staying in a hotel. Plus, I believe we brought plenty of commerce to greater Santa Barbara that week. So, save STRs!”
Hugo – Texas

“As a former resident and business owner of Santa Barbara and a guest at a Paradise rental, I greatly appreciated the ability to return for a short visit to the most beautiful city in the world and stay in a home-like atmosphere. These type of rentals attract visitors who robustly support the businesses—museums, shops, and restaurants—of this vibrant city. And some of these guests may return one day as permanent residents.”
Norma – Walnut Creek, CA

“My family and I have been short term renters in your beautiful City on three occasions. While we totally enjoyed the experience we also ate in your local restaurants, shopped in your grocery stores and malls & purchased tickets to many local attractions none of which we would have contributed to without the opportunities presented by a short term rental. On behalf of others like myself & family I am requesting that you reconsider your ban on short term rentals.”
Susan – Garden Grove, CA

“This summer will be our third time renting a vacation home in Santa Barbara with our family. These vacations have been a valuable experience for our family. We are the parents of 3 married children and have 6 grandchildren. We have been very respectful of the area and enjoy visiting some restaurants and the beach on occasion. We hope that we can continue to vacation in Santa Barbara.”
Judith – San Diego, CA

“Short term rentals in Santa Barbara and Santa Barbara County are a very useful means for vacationers to avail them selves of the beautiful climate and businesses in Santa Barbara county. We have been using 2-3 week rentals for the last 10 years and really enjoy our stay.”
David – New York

“We fully support VRBO, HomeAway, and AirBnB. They represent the true spirit of American ingenuity and entrepreneurship. Regulate if you must, charge hotel occupancy fees, but don’t knuckle under to the hotel lobby.”
Tony – Los Altos, CA

“We are frequent renters of vacation rentals in Santa Barbara. We love the experiences we have had and love the alternative to hotel rooms. It would be such a shame to lose these properties as an option for those of us who love to visit the Santa Barbara area.”
Cindy – Texas

“Our family is full of UCSB grads (and hopefully future students as well) and we would be heartbroken to lose the opportunity to stay in Santa Barbara for short periods of time while enjoying the benefits of short term rentals.”
Angela – Newcastle, CA

“I’ve been involved in analyzing and presenting these issues at the County government level for about 5 years. Continual education about the issue to government officials can work. Let me know how I can help, thanks.”
Ken S. – Santa Barbara

“Theo – thanks for putting this together. I look forwards to helping you push back on draconian VR laws.”
James F. – Santa Barbara

“Very impressive work! Thanks to you and your team for putting it together.”
Sean O. – Santa Barbara

“Thanks for your efforts. We will do what we can to assist and are working to rally support.”
Chris W. – Santa Barbara

“I became a VR owner almost 10 years ago. Main reason was my family rented homes in beach areas every year for 45 years and my best memories as a child, and now an adult with my kids, are those vacations and times together.”
Brian W. – Solvang

“Thank You for doing this. I would like to know who is running this and congratulate them on an excellent representation for us.”
Cheryl G. – Santa Barbara.

“I’m in favor of some regulation of STR but not for banning all together.”
Kathy P. – Santa Ynez

“Sorry to hear of this…we have rented from you in the past with complete satisfaction and hope to use you again in the future, and to use your services a lot more in the next 5 years after we retire.”
Gail D. – Illinois

“Santa Barbara is our “go to” family vacation site every year. We typically rent a home on the water for 7-10 days so that our four generation family can all join together under one roof to reconnect and enjoy each others company without the constraints of being separated in individual hotel rooms. We are a “working family” that can luckily afford such a wonderful treat, but are unable to afford most rentals that have a 30 day minimum. This will take us out of the Santa Barbara area where we also spend a lot of time and money shopping and visiting restaurants while we are there.”
Kim S. – Oak Park

“Short term rentals are an infusion to the local economy and do not effect affordable housing. Regulated short term rentals paying applicable taxes and professionaly managed are a huge plus for the local economy and help out of area owners like myself be able afford to own. We employ a professional company with 25 employees who gets a 20% commission to manage our property and we pay the applicable taxes. Without being able to rent it part time we would need to sell the property and it would not be rented by any subsequent owner at a “affordable” price. Please keep Short term rentals alive as our livelihood depends on it as well as the local economy and tax base for the county.”
Andrew M. – Los Olivos

“Being a Committed Employee with Paradise Retreats as Guest Relations I enjoy talking to all Family’s from all over the world and hear the excitement in their voice about Vacationing in Santa Barbara. The Weather is so beautiful and feels like Paradise. Guests needs a variety of Short Term Rentals due to they have children in school and sometimes prevents them from staying more then a week or month, so the 3 nights works for them. I am originally from Florida and worked as a Rental Associate and there is a “High Demand” of Vacation Rentals Short and Long Term that Families look forward to every year. Santa Barbara needs the Short Term Vacation Rentals for our Industry, Restaurants, Shops, etc. will help Boost our Economy as well. I ask that the City Council take our Short Term Rentals into great consideration so we may have Families visiting and having a wonderful Vacation in our Beautiful Santa Barbara City to have a place to call home when they are here!”
Lisa S. – Santa Barbara, CA.

“We strongly are in favor of Santa Barbara City making the decision to accommodate short term rentals. We recommend that Santa Barbara residents be allowed to rent for anything under 3 months per year, or something like that.”
Betsy P. – Santa Barbara

“I also support as a citizen. One of my fave things when traveling is staying at an Air BnB or private home rental.”
Melissa M.– Santa Barbara

“I have rented three times in Santa Barbara area during last ten years. It is ridiculous to see how this affects housing supply for low-income residents. My weekly rentals of $7,000 to $14,000 plus patronage of Santa Barbara restaurants and services contributes to the local economy!”
Robert F. – Palo Alto

“We rented from Paradise, spend $2000 for the rental, spent another $1500 in the community while we were there. $3500 over 3 days. Figure out the total number of days rented by a base dollar amount spent in the local community and come up with a CRC Community Revenue Contribution number per STR. Show the City the overall impact to the community. It is well documented people on vacation spend way more money in the local community then residents.”
Steve R. – Walnut Creek