Does Jay Higgins have the answers to Santa Barbara's most pressing housing issues? The longtime planner offers his views on housing, a hotel moratorium, commercial vacancy tax and much more in the latest episode of Santa Barbara Talks with Josh Molina. Higgins has spent nearly eight years on the Santa Barbara Planning Commission, one of the most influential boards in the city. He's a UCSB graduate and has an expert mind when it comes to land use and planning. In this conversation, Higgins says he opposes a hotel tax to fund housing and a hotel moratorium, but expresses mild support for a commercial vacancy tax for extreme situations.

This is a smart conversation with an individual at the center of the debate about Santa Barbara's future.

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Award-winning journalist Joshua Molina is a journalism instructor at Cal State University, Northridge and Santa Barbara City College. He has more than 20 years of professional experience.