SBF Receives Housing Authority’s Community Partner of the Year Award

BY SAM WATERSTONE | February 14, 2020

The Housing Authority of the City of Santa Barbara (HACSB) awarded the Santa Barbara Foundation with their 2019 Community Partner of the Year Award, HACSB announced on Thursday.

The Santa Barbara Foundation (SBF) is proud to be a longtime partner of the Housing Authority. The Foundation has worked closely with HACSB for decades to provide Santa Barbara residents with access to quality, affordable housing. In fact, SBF has been working in the affordable housing space for much of its 91-year history.

In 1938, the Foundation funded a survey of substandard housing by the mayor’s low-cost housing committee. The survey revealed that roughly 500 Santa Barbara residents were living in buildings unfit for human habitation. These findings sparked discussion around the need for a local housing authority. It took some time, but the Santa Barbara City Council finally created the city’s first official Housing Authority Commission in 1969, and the agency has been an important community resource ever since.

Over the past year, SBF partnered with HACSB on several major projects aimed at increasing access to affordable housing for low-income individuals and families in the City of Santa Barbara. The Housing Authority’s most recent success story is Johnson Court, a new 16-unit housing development for homeless veterans. On Friday, February 14, HACSB is holding a ribbon-cutting ceremony to honor the grand opening of the development, which is a shining example of government agencies, nonprofits, and community members working together to provide shelter and safety for some of our county’s most vulnerable residents.

HACSB headed the development, and SBF contributed by donating $16,000 to purchase over 400 household goods and items that were used to furnish the apartments. A week prior to the grand opening, a group of HACSB officials, City Councilmembers, and other community leaders volunteered to prepare each unit with the furnishings and supplies donated by SBF.

Thank you to the Housing Authority of the City of Santa Barbara for making projects like Johnson Court possible, and for recognizing the Santa Barbara Foundation as a champion for affordable housing in Santa Barbara County!

To learn more about HACSB, visit hacsb.org.