A proposed affordable housing project at the corner of Carrillo and Castillo streets in downtown Santa Barbara has garnered a favorable reaction from members of the city’s Historic Landmarks Commission.
The Santa Barbara Housing Authority has proposed to build 63 rental units on what currently is a surface commuter parking lot. All of the apartments will be offered below market rate and targeted at working professionals who earn between 80% and 120% of the area’s media income.
“The city is very much in need of housing affordable to the moderate-income workforce, and that is what this development is all about,” said Rob Fredericks, director of the Housing Authority.
The project is still in the pre-application conceptual phase, but members of the Historic Landmarks Commission expressed positive views about the direction of the design, which will be three and four stories.
While the Housing Authority primarily focuses on projects geared toward low-income residents, this project aims to serve working professionals with higher incomes, but who still struggle to afford to live in Santa Barbara.
For example, a two-bedroom apartment would rent at a market rate of between $3,200 and $3,900, Fredericks said.
A studio in the project, for example, would have a maximum rent of $1,600, and only be available for individuals making $75,684 or less. A one-bedroom unit would rent for $1,900 with an income limit of $97,308. A two-bedroom unit would rent for $2,200 with a maximum income of $108,120.
The Housing Authority has been working with nearby residents on Carrillo Street on the design. The city plans to remove dozens of tipuana and jacaranda trees that currently provide much shade at the site.
Only the trees facing Mission Creek and Highway 101 and the homes on Castillo Street will be preserved. The design presented at last week’s meeting showed the homes pushed toward Castillo Street, with the parking spaces facing the highway, to give residents distance from the noise and pollution.
The site is currently home to New Beginnings’ overnight parking program, which houses 12 family units in cars and RVs overnight, and serves as a commuter parking lot for downtown employees.
The project team focused on the livability of the design, how the building was “stepped back” so that the tallests part of the building were in the middle, and not front-facing the street. The landscape architure is also key, they said, particularly in the courtyard.
“The Housing Authority is an organization that is very much about community,” said Courtney Jane Miller, landscape architect. “These spaces are important. This is how people who live in this building get to know one another and how they feel grounded and connected in their communities.”
Miller also said “a critical need” on the site is planting of new leafy trees that could pull pollutants out of the air. She emphasized that trees would remain on the Carrillo and Highway 101 sides, and that more trees would be stratetically planted throughout the site.
“We need to be doing that with every nook and cranny we have,” she said.
The project is proposed for the commuter lot, the same site that the Housing Authority in 2019 proposed building tiny homes for homeless residents, an idea that was widely panned by the neighbors and then became a moot point at the site after the state and federal funding fell through.
Commissioner Keith Butler said he lives in the area, and that he is pleased with the progress of the project from previous versions. He noted that the corner is one of the “gateways” into Santa Barbara.
“It’s a strong statement to people coming in, that may be their first, early impression of us,” Butler said. “I think it fits pretty well.”
— Noozhawk staff writer Joshua Molina can be reached at jmolina@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
