In just four years, 129 homeless individuals have died on the streets of Santa Barbara County. Their average age of death was just 58 years old, compared with 76 years in the housed population. This means that being homeless in Santa Barbara decreases life expectancy by almost 20 years. As residents of Southern California and students at University of Southern California’s graduate school of social work, we have witnessed the increase in homelessness throughout our community. The primary responsibility of social workers is to advocate and provide services to underserved populations, which is why we want to bring renewed public attention to this devastating issue. Too many lives have been lost to this crisis, and we need a solution now.
Homelessness has been increasing in Santa Barbara for decades, fueled by the high cost of living, restrictive building regulations, and community opposition to affordable housing development. In 2018, after 41 homeless individuals died in Santa Barbara for the second year in a row, the county declared a crisis in both homelessness and housing. This year, the Grand Jury published two reports condemning the county’s dismal progress addressing homelessness and affordable housing. Despite this increase in public attention, we are nowhere near a solution. In fact, homelessness has risen 5 percent in the last year. One out of every 500 people in the city are without a permanent home. Even worse, one out of every eight school-age children in the county is currently considered homeless.
The majority of homeless people in Santa Barbara are working families who received a rent increase, lost income due to COVID-19, or simply cannot afford the cost of housing. Only 32 percent of those surveyed for the 2020 Point-in-Time survey are chronically homeless, and require additional mental and behavioral health services to successfully transition to housing. Nearly half of those surveyed said it was their first time experiencing homelessness.