Santa Barbara City Council Hears from Seniors Whose Homes Are Up for Auction

For the residents, the news came in January. The Battistone Foundation, a family nonprofit organization that owns more than 190 low-income housing units for seniors in downtown Santa Barbara, announced its plan to sell the properties. 

The news left many of the people who call the Battistone apartments home worried and afraid. What would happen once the foundation sold their building? 

Some tenants began to organize: they started the Edgerly Tenants Association (the name comes from the large pink Edgerly Hotel Apartments, the most conspicuous building owned by the foundation). They ran meetings where they spoke with each other about their concerns, learned more about their rights, and worked to raise awareness of their circumstances, including speaking to the Independent. 

At Tuesday’s City Council meeting, four residents made public comments toward the start of the meeting; this is a time wherein the council listens, but does not comment or take action. They came prepared, with an order in mind and carefully under the two-minute limit. The goals? To raise awareness of the sale, so that an angel investor and a nonprofit could get involved and create a housing association that could help them keep their homes. 

Craig Griffith, who initially introduced the group to the City Council, said the tenants can see three options with the sale. 

“To be purchased by a nonprofit, by the city or county, or by a for-profit,” he said. 

Griffith said that tenants wanted to avoid the third option, as annual rent increases made by a for-profit developer could quickly price out tenants, many of whom live on very tight budgets and pay far below market rate for their units. 

Martine White told the council that, although she receives good benefits from her work at UC Santa Barbara, her starting salary was $44,000, and she needed to find a place she could afford. Now, she said, she’s doing “okay” but took time off to come to the meeting for those too old or disabled to make it, as well as future seniors needing an affordable place to live. She said many residents make do with their Social Security checks only and did not have family to help them, and raised questions on what would happen if they had to move. 

“Who will pay for it?” She asked. “Who helps them to move? Who pays moving and storage costs? Are they guaranteed housing when the renovations are done?”

Karine Anderson, a longtime elementary school teacher at Monroe Elementary, said that Santa Barbara had an aging population, but little senior housing — especially for those on fixed incomes. 

Anderson said that, for many, having to leave their homes in the Battistone apartments would mean losing not just a home but a community. 

“We’re going to feel, I already anticipate, displaced, [which] leads to loneliness and isolation,” she said. “We’ll be separated from our friends, from our community, our neighbors, our social and medical services, and our familiar surroundings.” 

Shyama Osborne, 89, gave some of her own personal story, as well as how her current reality living in her apartment keeps her involved in the community. Osborne is a longtime resident, having first come to Santa Barbara in 1950. She spent years living and working here, including as the head children’s librarian. 

She said that living in a first-floor Battistone unit has helped her prolong her independence. She spoke about her volunteer work at Peabody Charter School, the Friendship Center, and the Braille Institute. 

“And then, for over 20 years, I have gone to the Louise Lowery Davis Center as part of a group of knitters and crocheters who provide items for the Unity Shoppe,” she said.

Initially, the Battistone Foundation listed the properties for $80 million. In early July, the foundation announced that it would hold a private auction and make a point to invite buyers who will continue to provide affordable housing. The foundation has not yet released more details. 

Editor’s Note: This story was updated to correct a typo. Martine White told the council that she was speaking on behalf of future seniors needing an affordable place to live, not an “affordable palace.”