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Housing Authority of the City of Santa Barbara Wins Prestigious
National Award for El Carrillo Studios

February 2008, SANTA BARBARA, CA – The Housing Authority of the City of Santa Barbara (HACSB) has won a 2007 national Award of Excellence from top national housing organization NAHRO, the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials. HACSB’s El Carrillo Studios, an innovative model of permanent housing for the homeless with supportive services, won in the category of Innovation in Affordable Housing, for ‘honoring superior assisted housing and community development programs’.

The 2007 Award of Excellence was officially presented at NAHRO’s National Conference and Exhibition in San Diego. The Housing Authority of the City of Santa Barbara is one of only 22 agencies nationwide to receive the 2007 award.

“We are grateful for this recognition by NAHRO, and honored to represent a truly collaborative community effort,” said Rob Pearson, Executive Director and CEO of the Housing Authority of the City of Santa Barbara. “Our measures of success include recognition from expert authorities, the impact on our community and the number of lives we are able to permanently improve by providing more than a roof over their heads, but support for every aspect of their lives.”

The concept for El Carrillo was born out of the City of Santa Barbara’s recognition that our community has a growing need for permanent affordable housing solutions for the most underserved population, the chronically homeless. Bringing housing and services together in one central location at El Carrillo helps to ensure successful living for the residents and guides them toward success in life. As a result of this innovative program through the Housing Authority of the City of Santa Barbara, Work Training Programs, Inc. and a large network of other community agencies, 61 individuals who had been homeless from 6 months to 16 years have now been living in their own apartments for over one and one-half years.

South Santa Barbara County has a homeless population of approximately 6,100, in contrast with a median single-family home price of $1.2 million and a median 2-bedroom apartment rent of $1,550 per month. Given the high cost of the area, the homeless population has virtually no housing options to turn to from the streets. To address the needs of this segment of the population, the Housing Authority developed El Carrillo. The process included purchase of an underutilized site along a major transportation corridor and a mere four blocks from the heart of the downtown Santa Barbara. Given the location, the city Planning Commission granted the project a parking modification requiring only 17 parking spaces (compared to usually-required 61) and a bonus density of 475%, allowing El Carrillo to comprise 61 studio apartments instead of only 13. El Carrillo is a Low-Income Housing Tax Credit project that also contains a 2-bedroom manager’s apartment, a community room and a program room for service delivery. The HACSB partnered with Work Training Programs, a well-established social services organization, to provide services such as mental health treatment, addiction counseling, job training, life skills and budgeting classes. The community has embraced the project; through the Adopt-A-Room Program, local businesses and individuals donated money to fully furnish every apartment.

El Carrillo development partners included The Redevelopment Agency of the City of Santa Barbara, City of Santa Barbara, The Housing Trust Fund of Santa Barbara County, and Santa Barbara Bank & Trust.

The Housing Authority of the City of Santa Barbara is a local public agency created for the purpose of providing safe, decent, and quality affordable housing and supportive services to eligible persons with limited incomes, through a variety of federal, state, local and private resources. Since 1969, the Housing Authority has developed and/or secured over 3,000 units of affordable rental housing for Santa Barbara. Please visit the website at www.hacsb.org.

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