Santa Barbara Doubles Down on Homeless Programs

An exhausted Santa Barbara City Council enthusiastically and unanimously voted to spend $380,000 on two homeless programs designed to get homeless people off the streets and into housing. 

Capping a meeting that went on past 10 pm, councilmembers all but gushed over the work done by SB ACT (Santa Barbara Alliance for Community Transformation) — for which it authorized an additional $50,000. In addition, the council voted to reauthorize funding for CityNet, an Orange County-based homeless outreach organization to the tune of $330,000. This will keep CityNet — known for the high number of contacts its outreach workers make with people living on the street — in business in Santa Barbara for one more year. Both organizations were praised for making an immediate and palpable difference at a time when homeless is getting worse, not better.