The Housing Authority of the County of Santa Barbara (HASBARCO) hosted a groundbreaking ceremony for Heritage Ridge, a 104-unit affordable housing development in Goleta, on December 19. It was a milestone occasion for a project that has been in development for more than a decade. “Welcome to the biggest affordable housing project in the city of Goleta’s history,” Goleta City Councilmember James Kyriaco announced to cheers and applause.
Heritage Ridge, located east of Los Carneros Road and north of Camino Vista, will host 41 units for low-income seniors and 63 units for low-income households. Through the Project-Based Voucher program, 57 units are designated for homeless or formerly homeless households and 5 units are designated for veterans.
An additional 228 market-rate units will be constructed in collaboration with Red Tail Multifamily Land Development, a real estate company based in Irvine.
“For every three units that are being built … that’s one set aside for teachers, for nurses, for firefighters, for the people that make this community work,” Kyriaco said.
Heritage Ridge will also feature a two-acre public park. Because the project site is culturally significant to the Chumash, the park was designed with input from members of the Barbareño Band of Chumash Indians and will involve educational elements. Visitors can “learn a little bit more about the culture and history of the Chumash,” said John Polanskey, Director of Housing Development for HASBARCO.
The Heritage Ridge project has been in development since 2014, with Red Tail taking over from the Towbes Group in 2019. It is expected to be complete in roughly a year and a half, Polanskey said. It is financed through tax-exempt bonds, the Project-Based Voucher program, the HOME Investment Partnerships Program, and multiple California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) programs.
Polanskey highlighted the HCD’s Homekey+ program as a crucial source of funding. Homekey+ distributes funding authorized by Proposition 1 to build affordable housing for veterans and people experiencing or at risk of homelessness. Heritage Ridge Senior and Heritage Ridge Special Needs Family are two of the first seven projects to be awarded funding; Homekey+ will provide a total of $43.88 million across both projects.
Event speakers expressed their hopes that Heritage Ridge will make a meaningful impact on Santa Barbara County’s housing crisis. Per a 2023 county report, 51.5 percent of South Coast renters are considered rent burdened, meaning more than 30 percent of their household income is spent on housing.
“It’s not just the units,” said California State Assemblymember Gregg Hart. “It’s the families and the lives that we’re stabilizing, the people here in our community who need a place to live to be able to contribute, to be a part of our community, and to have a future they can look forward to.”
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