Casa de la Raza in Hot Water

Ever since it was founded nearly 40 years ago, La Casa de la Raza — ground zero for many of Santa Barbara’s Latino cultural, political, and social organizations — has enjoyed something few nonprofits even dream of: its own building. A former construction warehouse located at 601 East Montecito Street, La Casa’s headquarters actually looks much more like a fortress, and with 26,000 square feet of prime Eastside real estate, it’s almost as big as one. But even as La Casa’s directors prepare to celebrate the organization’s 40th birthday next March, their dream — hatched by Latino activists during the heat of the Civil Rights movement — is slipping toward nightmare.

County tax collectors recently put La Casa’s Board of Directors on notice that the property could be placed on the auction block as early as next May, and no later than May 2014. La Casa is currently eight years behind in its property taxes, delinquent to the tune of $87,669. By April, that amount will exceed $91,000. Unless this bill is paid in full, collectors insist they will be legally obligated to pull the plug on La Casa and auction off the building that, even in today’s depressed market, is worth $3 million to $5 million.

This may be the most public salvo of dire news to afflict La Casa, but it’s hardly the first. In 2010, foreclosure notices were placed on La Casa’s front doors after the organization fell $145,000 behind in its payments to Santa Barbara Bank & Trust. Only when a group of investors led by La Casa’s original director, Tomas Castelo, intervened was a forced courthouse sale averted. But even before that, La Casa was embroiled in a battle with the Internal Revenue Service that so far has cost roughly $90,000. So firm was the feds’ grip that by the time the proceeds from La Casa’s famous Fiesta torta sales made it to the bank, the IRS would seize those assets.