The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors approved more than $3 million in federal, county, and city loans to help fund an affordable housing project in Santa Maria.
“There’s been an increased sensitivity in the city of Santa Maria for folks that are homeless and there’s been a considerable push for outreach,” 5th District Supervisor Steve Lavagnino said at the board’s Aug. 14 meeting following the loans’ approval. “The problem is at the end of the outreach … there’s just limited spaces for people to go. I think this will be a great help.”
The 80-unit Residences at Depot Street, proposed for a 2.7 acre parcel at 201 and 205 N. Depot St., is estimated to cost $37 million, according to staff documents. The approved funds are a stopgap for the county Housing Authority to begin building two structures on the site that will house the affordable units until long-term federal loans kick in.
The county’s HOME consortium–composed of several cities across the county, including Santa Maria “is set to provide the more than $3 million loan in HOME and Inclusionary Housing Ordinance funds.
On Aug. 28, the board will consider an additional loan to the project from the Department of Behavioral Wellness to the tune of an estimated $2.4 million in Mental Health Services Act funds.
That same day, supervisors will need to give the HOME loan agreement final approval, along with the project’s promissory note, deed of trust, regulatory agreement, and permanent loan agreement with Wells Fargo Bank.
Lavagnino said that while he was encouraged by the work of nonprofits such as United Way and AmeriCorps with the homeless population in Santa Maria, more could still be done and housing, as much as anything, was vital in helping that at-risk population.
“At the end of the day somebody still needs a front door and a roof over their head,” he added. “This [project] is going to go a long way into rectifying that situation.”
This article appears in Aug 23-30, 2018.