A Message from the Chair and the Executive Director/CEO
Dear Friends,
As CEO and Chair, we recently commented to one another about the wonderful sojourn of service we enjoy in our respective leadership capacities at the Housing Authority. And it is relatively easy service due to the Commitment, Competency, Cooperation, Communication and Compassion that the Housing Authority staff and Commission bring to our work everyday. Those are our core values – our five "C’s" as they are affectionately known around our workplace. With these, we build safe and affordable housing communities and provide support services to the residents – services that help the residents build better lives for their family. In so doing , the residents build community within their own apartment complex, making it "value added" to their neighborhood and the city as a whole.
The real measure of the Housing Authority’s impact is not just in the number of units we have developed and manage; it’s in the lives of the people we serve. Visit any of our developments – be it El Carrillo for the formerly homeless, to Garden Court for frail seniors, to Paseo Voluntario for families (and the list goes on) – and you’ll find people whose lives have been transformed by having an affordable, safe and comfortable place to live. You can also talk to the hundreds of families who have graduated from our housing via our Family Self Sufficiency Program (FSS), using us as a needed stepping stone to home ownership and private market housing. It is dramatic proof that the Housing Authority really does help people climb the economic ladder…and that our units serve not just one family, but many. We help the residents not only build community, but understand community.
As we celebrate 40 years of service and look to our future, we recognize that the need for affordable housing only continues to grow. No matter how big a dent we make, our job will never be done. But we have no doubt that, through the next 40 years, the Housing Authority will respond with the same high-quality housing production and continual innovation for which we’ve become known. Thanks to the leadership of past and present commissioners and staff, we have built a solid organization of people that embrace our 5-C’s and the challenge of securing the resources needed to do extraordinary things. That culture is in our genes and will endure.
We have always placed the resident at the core of our mission. Almost everyone, at some point in life, needs the assistance of someone else to navigate the path to personal and economic independence. This understanding underlies our success. To successfully end homelessness, change lives for the better, and foster hope, we must be more than just housing. We must help our residents understand community so they can successfully build it and be part of it.
As we celebrate 40 years of successful service to Santa Barbara, we say thank you to all of our partners. Our work and success would not be possible without you. The help and encouragement we continually receive from the City Council and their talented staff are essential building blocks in our solid foundation…and "can do" reputation. To all of our past and current residents, we applaud your success and commitment to community.
Sincerely,
