Fighting For Issues That Matter To You

The pandemic made work hard to come by, and throughout the last two years, we’ve seen unjust rent hikes. Our families cannot afford to keep paying sky-high rent prices; we don’t want to price out our families from our City. We must ensure that our families have a safety net, beginning with housing affordability.

Therefore, affordable housing will be my priority over the next four years. I envision a community with plentiful affordable housing units; I also envision extending our rent voucher program to all residents and continuing my efforts for an Affordable Inclusionary Housing Ordinance.

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the challenges of our working-class families. Even before the pandemic, families struggled to enroll in adequate and affordable childcare. During my next four years, I will propose a Youth Fund, a Fund set aside to support families in securing childcare and youth development programs for our families in Santa Maria.

I will work across the aisle to dedicate 5% of our General Fund City budget to a Youth Fund. I know this will be a challenging endeavor, and we may hear a lot of NOs along the way, but it’s not impossible. To create a thriving Santa Maria, we need to provide adequate funding for childcare and youth development programs. I want Santa Maria to be known as the City that takes care of its own, and this is how we will do that.

In addition, we can’t talk about unaffordability without talking about living wage jobs. I will continue my efforts on living wages by championing a Community Work Force Agreement Program to create economic development opportunities for residents and businesses within Santa Maria. A Community Work Force Agreement Program like this will ensure the hiring of residents and targeted workers and encourage the participation of local small business enterprises. A program like this can increase access to prevailing wage employment that directly combats poverty and unemployment—ultimately maximizing local economic development that promotes equity and economic inclusion.

Our small businesses have employed people during the pandemic, so I want to make it easier for them to do business in Santa Maria. Whether they’re a small home business, a car washing business, or a mom-and-pop shop, we need to support them. Enough with the roadblocks. I want our City to embrace all businesses, not just the ones with significant capital.