Without any real notice to the public, the City of Santa Barbara decided on Tuesday to approve a grant application to install 40 mobile homes on top of the commuter parking lot at Castillo and Carrillo for the sole use of the top 50 treatment-resistant homeless individuals in the city. These individuals are expected to present with signs of mental illness and/or be severely addicted to drugs or alcohol.
The proposed plan did not include a real plan of where the city will park 150 cars that currently park at Castillo and Carrillo during the day or if the permit holders would face added costs. It also did not have a solid solution as to where the residents in the New Beginnings program, who use the lot at night, would go or if they would share the lot with the “new residents.” Rob Fredericks, of the city’s Housing Authority, speculated that the city might consider not returning the commuter lot to parking but to continue to operate it for supportive housing indefinitely.
The city rejected including any options in its application that included services, rental assistance, or capital projects focused on other homeless populations or those at imminent risk of homelessness, which it could have done if it had chosen to do so. Eligible beneficiaries under 24 CFR 578.3 include families, displaced tenants, domestic abuse victims, unaccompanied youth (including former foster children), and others.