AnonymousBy Denice Spangler Adams
If the proposed tiny homeless grant proposal is awarded $2M vs the requested $5M, how would you like City [of Santa Barbara] to spend a $2M award on a capital project for homeless? (40 tiny home structures would cost $3M).
You have got a $2M budget for a capital project only; not for services. Would you like 20 versus 40 tiny homes, a processing day center, more safe overnight parking spaces with hygiene facilities for those residing in vehicles, creation of storage facilities for carts, City park respite sheds for homeless with portable toilets, portable toilets installed in City Parking lots, addict Drop-in Centers, or something else?
Mayor Murillo spoke today in favor of funding the Tiny Homeless Village during the grant ranking meeting at Cachuma. The public meeting is at 5:30p Wednesday at the Davis Center.
Seems to me that the County, who is doling out the 9 Million taxpayer dollars of State HEAP funds, should revisit and audit all the “homeless programs” and stewards of the “homeless” in the North County and South County.
There are fourteen (14) organizations, including the City of SB and the County of SB, who all have their hands out for the money grab…
Why not have the Salvation Army (South County) get half, since they have beds and deal with the vagrant issue and the other half go to a (North County) outreach program that is already in place and supplies beds (Good Samaritan Shelter)
WHY re-invent the wheel and provide the money to who is able and ready to shelter , RATHER than look to a new government bureaucracy to “form” a program and destroy a neighborhood and “gateway” intersection for the City of Santa Barbara…?
I think the money ought to go for some supplies, Pacifiers, bibs, some diapers, baby bottles,, jumpy swings, high chairs for the Nimby club of greater Santa Barbara disposable diapers of course…
I vote for one-way bus tickets to Santa Nella, CA and a rehab camp there.
I’d like to see some sort of day center with shower and laundry facilities, and comfortable seating. Maybe that would free up some of the chairs at the downtown library. I am willing to share the library with homeless folk, but i wish there were a few less of them there.
Trona real estate – $15,000 to $25,000 per home – 1-3BR homes permanently owned. No more payments. . That is one fifth the cost of a single city staff worker that has to be paid each and eery year to babysit them in a downtown parking. Trona is the cost-effective way to end homelessness. Now.
Agreed. It’s completely overrun. I remember the days when it was actually used as a, you know, library. I never visit anymore, either myself or my daughter. Waste of intellectual resources when all it’s really being used for is bathing and naptime for the homeless. There is literally nowhere left to even sit.
$2 million can buy 100 homes in Trona today. Each home can house 4-6 persons. You have permanent shelter for at least 400 vagrants. Trona has perfectly good homes, some fixer uppers but the main industry left town leaving all this worker housing behind getting unloaded at ridiculous prices. Trona was good enough for working people to live there. Plenty of room to park RV’s too. Liquor store and health clinic already in place. Make Trona great again.
Former Assemblyman Das Williams passed legislation allowing vagrants to use the SBCC gym showers at SBCC. Plenty of comfortable indoor and outdoor seating and a library on campus too. Why do people assume nothing had been done? Lots has been done. In fact vagrants can now use community college facilities for daily showering and toilet needs up and down this state. Why hasn’t this legislation changed anything?
Perhaps, though – based on results in other towns – simply providing them a “home” gets them off the streets – and saves money? I fail to see how “kicking them out” solves…anything. I mean, it’s true that it is not “Santa Barbara’s” job, per se, to fix the national homelessness problem. And it is national. So the entire country needs to take part in the “fixing”. Unfortunately, SB is a very attractive place to be – weather wise (easy to live outdoors), and a somewhat welcoming place. However, you’d have to bury your head in the sand to try and lump all homeless together, and to make the assertion that they are all from “somewhere else”. There are homeless people who are FROM HERE, so in some respects, they are OUR responsibility. The homeless from “elsewhere” – not so much. But if they are here, and causing problems – we have to deal with them. Someone who has a job but cannot afford rent is in a different category from the young drifters who inhabit state street and aggressively annoy people (I don’t go down there anymore). It’s a multi-faceted problem with requires many solutions. I, for one, am willing to pay tax dollars (and personal dollars) to help – but not to house any tom, dick and harry who rolls into town. On the other hand, housing them will save money. Anything that reduces the number people on the streets (with the resulting public health issues), is a win.
Buy 67 RVs for $15K each, and spend the other $1M pacing land and adding showers and toilets up by County Facilities. Make Paved Lot large enough to section off part for those living in their own vehicles: they need safe lots with separate hygiene facilities. 67 RVs Mobile homes is 27 more than the planned 40 tiny houses; costs much less, and would enable the City to help those working and retired poor trying to survive by living in their vehicles. A large paved, safe, monitored lot with addicts and known trouble-makers separated from others could help our dependent elders and working poor who need benefit of some assistance.
A 600 bed facility in an industrial area sounds a lot like a prison…but what’s a city to do? At least the area is industrial and will not be populated at night. And I’ll never forget driving a year ago along the nearby Santa Ana river and seeing *miles* of tents. It’s nothing like our local pockets of vagrants.
After the Night Market fails they should dorm up the old Macy’s downtown. Plenty of space. All they need to do is install revolving doors. LOL.
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Any other ideas? Santa Barbara Council has hired Orange County Pros to deal with our local homeless. As Nick Walsh wrote in Indy, at 6’7” with “big hands” homeless are bedded. Our local pros do not get results for the Council so with lots of money to burn City has hired OC experts to take over while paying our pros to observe from sidelines.
This is a great idea! Creating tiny houses in SB’s “entryway” parking lot seems completely inappropriate for many reasons. Converting the Schott Center to house some of our homeless would be a much better location & with existing infrastructure, perhaps more efficient! (We’ll never be able to house ALL because there’s never an end to homelessness)! Homeless are living along the railroad tracks between here and Los Angeles. It’s grim! Local homeless used to live on Loma Alta hill. They had an amazing view and NO rent. Not to mention no plumbing. Why does anyone think it’s a good idea to let more homeless stream across our borders? WHERE will THEY live?! Basta!
by repaving the streets and fixing all the potholes.
Lets just ship the homeless out of this town….
Put them all on one the city’s beloved cruise ships and ship them away… Then just hand the rest to Barry Cappello. He’s going to get it anyway…
As is often said (and often shown) the way to end homelessness is housing. I would like that money to be spent on housing; there should be no more than 5% of the available money spent on City staff time. Staff members who care, and I am sure that’s all of them, should do as so many in the city (and county) do, volunteer their time and expertise. To find out what is a reasonable amount of time, apartment owners should be queried as to how much time the owners spend. The point MUST be to provide housing, not to provide work for city staff.
In the interim, COASTWATCH makes some valid points about reinventing the wheel.
Thanks COASTWATCH for reminding us how many SB County Grifters are in on this homeless issue………..Vacancies on State St……..Declining pedestrian traffic downtown……..these are normal reactions to a problem that has gone on way too long in this city…….when considering where to put the new homeless city, let’s find out where Kristen, Oscar, Cathy, Randy, and Eric live ?……maybe we could locate the city of New Homeless near their neighborhoods ?……..don’t forget to locate it below the ill-fated Blue Line……….Taxation without representation is alive and well in SB
Did you not intend to add Rep Greg Hart versus Randy? Reps Jason Dominquez (Rastside)?and Randy Rowse (Mesa) were the only 2 Reps voting against the grant app to create a 40-tiny homeless village on Carrillo at 101. Rep Kristen Sneddon stated on the record she supports more of these tiny villages throughout the City. She’s in San Roque so perhaps MacKenzie Park. I heard Rep Friedman lives near there too and he supports more homeless housing.
To the question, I agree with Coastwatch. We don’t need 14 organizations: contribute to the Salvation Army who is doing the job. Give the$2M to Salvation Army to add more beds away from the City Core; and let’s award Salvation Army additional Money to build a Day Center with toilets, chairs, and combo locked cart storage for homeless to be to free up the public library for its intended use, and restore public sidewalks for commerce, and resident -tourist use. I avoid dining or shopping downtown: out of sight, out of mind. I don’t enjoy paying for the luxury of dining out near stench or be approached for money. It’s outside my coping ability to be confronted when trying to mind my own business. I’d also welcome a day laborer pick up place at a homeless center to have access to those homeless seeking work: clean up, yard, paint and other day work.
Let’s use it to send Cathy and her clownsil cronies on a one way flight as far away from Santa Barbara as possible. They’ve done enough damage to Sb. Thank you coastwatch for having common sense in this issue!
we used to send them to oxnard back when the 101 and state had an intersection. had a friend working in the SBPD back then and told me what they did.
The “tiny homes” project will definitely be detrimental to home owners in that neighborhood. Roaming homeless and property value losses.
Perfect Solution Factotum for day hours! edHat EdHat Readers only need print and distribute flyers to homeless informing them to hang at City College. In addition to accessibly gym showers, temp controlled lovely Library with computers, top rated food service, the West Campus lawn areas offer gorgeous views with easy access to the new Ethic Studies Bldg with furnished rooftop resort-like space. City College is a beautiful location with bus access. Adding beds there on a public property would be exempt from any EIR, just as like UCSB or the proposed Carrillo City Lot. Is there sufficient land for tiny homes or land space for only a shelter 4-5 story shelter? Currently, is the SBCC gym parking lot used by New Beginnings for vehicle residents to access toilets and showers! Das is brilliant!
You ask- Why has lawful community college use not changed anything? Probably because too few know. Sac passes too many bills. There’s no source to read the hundreds of new laws each year. Is there an annual update to the encyclopedia of CA Laws required at every library? What hours are SBCC showers and toilets open? Can UCSB facilities be lawfully used as well?
Turn the old SBCC Schott Center into this tiny home village for the $2 million dollars -closer to Cottage Hospital for their emergency care, under-utilized current facilities with electrical, plumbing, dining and washroom/toilets capacity already in place. SBCC can provide skills building classes onsite for this under-served population group. Instead of building dorms on campus for out of district SBCC students who come for sun and fun, rise to the local challenge by rehabilitating those who are already here.
So heartwarming to see all of the ideas to help the less fortunate in our community during the time bookended by Thanksgiving and Christmas. This is the spirit that made the US the beacon of light for people all over the world. Keep up the good work, everyone!
You do realize, however, that they don’t disappear? They are still homeless. They don’t cease to exist as people, and they are still homeless.
The person in charge of the HEAP Funds ($9.2 Million in taxpayer money) for the County, who is the “distributor” of the gifts or awards is Kim Albers with the County Homeless Prevention Program. You can email her your concerns at kalbers@co.santabarbara.ca.us
Stories like this are fairy tales told to gullible people by braggarts and liars. Repeating them seems to bring comfort but only blocks real solutions. Grow up and stop spreading gossip.
What about the cost of electricity, gas, water? You’re gonna need air conditioning in the summer, that’s for sure.
Das Williams reports in the Independent about the legislation Gov Brown later signed into law: My bill attempts to ease some of the pain of being homeless:
• Authorizes any student enrolled in a California Community College that is facing a financial or housing crisis the opportunity to shower in the locker room facilities maintained by that college without the requirement of enrollment in a physical education (PE) course or athletic department program.
• Requires that students be enrolled in coursework, pay enrollment fees, and be in good standing with the community college district.
• Aligns the use of the shower facilities for homeless students with the campus’ gym operating hours, and only for two hours per weekday.
The Salvation Army is a religious proselytizing organization. The idea that tax payer money should be exclusively donated to such a group is chilling. People (Coastwatch) who suggest this are living in a fantasy world of WASP America that was never true and is not a model of how our society should function. I have given money to SA over the years because they seemed to be efficient in distributing needy resources but they are selective and only one face of the need.
Thanks PITMIX………your empty and superficial comments must be your ad hominem response from your inner progressive views………
SSI checks they are already getting pay for their daily needs, but they may have to cut back on their liquor, drug and cigarette bills. It is never enough is it? Always demands for more, which are in fact just excuses they have no intention whatsoever to get off the streets and out of the bushes. Never once do they offer to give back to the community one iota of gratitude or public service in return. Just more demands and more complaints. Done with them.
The Independent reported on this community college and it is handed out for free all over town. But since it asks vagrants to also be duly registered students in something, perhaps this is why it got no traction within the vagrant community.
You realize the main goal now is for them to disappear from our community, because they have blighted too many areas of our town for far too long. Their presence here has destroyed the city’s fundamental financial core; property taxes, retail and tourism. That is too heavy a price to pay for their continued, unilateral and selfish demands. Yes, we want them gone.