Twenty-twenty was certainly a year like we have never experienced before. Most notably from our perspective, a national pandemic in 2020 uncovered the glaring social injustices among race and class in our country. The current public health crisis has laid bare systems failures in the United States; key among them is the country’s housing affordability crisis. In Santa Barbara, 80 percent of extremely low-income households are paying more than half their income on housing costs, and renters must earn $37.21 per hour, which is 2.9 times the state minimum wage, just to afford the average monthly asking rent of $1,935.
It is undeniable that the impact of COVID-19 has been immediate and severe on low-income residents and people of modest economic means. The number of people living in poverty has grown by eight million since May, according to researchers at Columbia University’s Center on Poverty & Social Policy. These same families were already struggling before the onset of the pandemic.
During this time, our community’s most vulnerable have also struggled with housing and food insecurity. Thankfully, due to our resources and those of the city and other nonprofits working together, Santa Barbara has provided for many of their basic needs including stable affordable housing and safe access to nutritious food.