Affordable Units Open in Goleta
Goleta’s Casas de Los Carneros affordable apartments will celebrate a grand opening on September 19. All were rented through a lottery that opened last October, and tenants — who make no more than 60 percent of the area median income — fully occupied the units as of August, said Peoples’ Self-Help Housing. Among the amenities are a community center, outdoor recreation spaces, playgrounds, half a basketball court, community gardens, and laundry facilities. The housing nonprofit raised the building funds through bonds, tax credits, $1.9 million from the City of Goleta, and a gap loan from the Goleta Valley Housing Committee.
Casas is part of a larger development called Village at Los Carneros, which encountered controversy when builder Comstock Homes sold lots to a second developer, which attempted to have requirements, such as the affordable units, waived. According to the City of Goleta, all the required elements were completed, including a bridge over Tecolotito Creek to give residents a second exit and a recreation building. Altogether, the development contains 465 new units of housing at the railroad tracks, 101, and Los Carneros Road, half of which are completed.
