There may soon be 40 “tiny box” temporary homes installed at the commuter parking lot at the intersection of Castillo and Carrillo streets as part of an emergency plan to house the most service-resistant homeless people in Santa Barbara. But only if City Hall wins a state grant application the City Council just authorized by a 5-to-2 vote. Should the city’s $6 million grant application be approved, the 40 trailers on wheels would be set up via an unprecedented collaboration between Cottage Hospital, Santa Barbara city police, the city Housing Authority, as well as Orange County–based group City Net, which specializes in street outreach work with homeless people.
The vote came after much hand-wringing by the mayor and councilmembers and after intense blowback by neighborhood residents who showed up to object at the utter lack of public notification. They’d only been notified of the grant application late this past Saturday afternoon, they complained, hardly enough time to vet so intense a land-use change with such intense ramifications for the neighborhood. Some neighbors went into graphic detail about homeless people in the area already, urinating in their bushes, sleeping in their yards, and getting into fights in front of their homes. They also objected that the loss of commuter parking spaces would adversely affect area residents, who rely on the lot being available on weekends for visitors.
“It’s a great idea,” said one speaker, “just not here.” Anna Marie Gott, a frequent critic of City Hall, termed the short notice residents were given “disgusting” and “unconscionable.” Many residents agreed the proposal appeared promising, innovative, and even necessary; they just felt blindsided.