Print friendly
E-mail story
Contact an Editor
iPod friendly
Comments
Bookmark This
del.icio.us.
Digg!
furl
google
newsvine
reddit
technorati
Facebook
Yahoo!The City of Santa Barbara appears poised to spend $4.6 million to secure four older, run down homes and a 1960s-vintage 10-unit apartment complex on the 500 block of Bath Street, and “land bank” the area for a possible 50-unit affordable housing development in the future. The city council finance committee approved plans to loan the funds to the Housing Authority so that it would purchase the properties in question. Displaced tenants would be given relocation assistance. Although the Housing Authority will eventually have to pay the money back—at minimal interest—it claims a 100 percent land subsidy is required to make the project economically viable. As envisioned, the housing would be made available to downtown workers and the chronically homeless.
Double-clicking on any word or phrase in this story will open a reference window with definitions and links to other reference material.
Previous Month
Comments
Discussion Guidelines
There are other costs in providing this kind of subsidized housing:
- the Housing Authority pays no property tax on parcels it owns
- this is land that might otherwise be developed as market rate rental property
I support taxpayer subsidies to provide housing for the City's workforce, but not for the chronically homeless. A regional solution for the chronically homeless makes more sense. City funds could house three times as many residents if spent in New Cuyama.
Steve_Johnson (anonymous profile)
April 17, 2008 at 9:16 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Affordable housing for the chronically homeless. You have to be kidding. if you are chronically homeless I'm going to guess you can't afford anything, much less a house.
I work a full-time job in this city and I can't afford a house. I contribute to society. Give me a free house, not some drunk dude stinking up the local parks.
I'm sure every downtown workers dream is to live next door to a person that was formerly chronically homeless. Great idea.
someguy (anonymous profile)
April 17, 2008 at 10:57 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Bravo to the City Housing Authority! Anything that will help the chronically homeless into housing benefits the entire community.
buckwheat (anonymous profile)
April 22, 2008 at 12:20 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Post a comment