The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors heard a proposal on Aug. 14 for an affordable housing project in Santa Maria. In total, the Housing Authority of Santa Barbara, the developer of the Residences at Depot Street, is seeking a little more than $3 million in federal loans to be approved by the county.
The proposed housing complex would be built at 201 and 205 N. Depot St. and when completed would offer 80 rental units in two seperate buildings for low-income residents. Funds for the project would come by way of federal loans from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), along with the county’s HOME Consortium (which includes Santa Maria, Solvang, and Buellton) and its Inclusionary Housing ordinance monies.
According to staff documents, the county’s Housing and Community Development Department has roughly $2 million in HOME funds and a little more than $1 million in inclusionary housing funds. Both of those funds are managed by the county. The money is awarded annually by HUD to build, provide, and operate affordable housing in local jurisdictions.
As of the Sun‘s press time, the supervisors had yet to discuss the issue at their regular meeting on Aug. 14.
Regardless, staff is set to return to the board on Aug. 28 for approval of the county’s HOME loan agreement, promissory note, deed of trust, regulatory agreement, and subordination agreement “for construction and permanent loans being provided to the project by Wells Fargo Bank.”
This article appears in Aug 16-23, 2018.
