I swear, you can’t make this stuff up. This NY Times article reports on subsidized housing, Santa Barbara-style:

Next time you sit down to write your monthly mortgage or rent check, consider this: In Santa Barbara, about 90 miles northwest of Los Angeles, a public-private partnership is planning to build a subsidized-housing development for some families earning as much as $177,000.
ìIt does sound unusual,î admitted Rob Pearson, the executive director of the cityís Housing Authority, which helped broker the deal for the development, to be called Los Portales. ìBut Santa Barbara is getting Gucci-fied. If we donít do something, weíll lose our middle class.î [. . .]
City officials say theyíve worked to provide affordable homes for lower-income residents; about 12 percent of local housing stock falls into this category, much of it subsidized with public money. But with the average median home price in the Santa Barbara area hovering around $1.2 million, many well-employed citizens are finding it tough to buy a home.
ìItís even problematic for people like doctors,î says Martha Sadler, a housing reporter for The Santa Barbara Independent weekly newspaper. [. . .]
ìThis is good for Santa Barbaraî Sadler says. ìRich people are great, and itís interesting to live with C.E.O.ís. But there are middle-class people who are great, too.î

But not too middle class, right? ;^)