The Housing Authority of the City of Santa Barbara (HACSB) has purchased Garden Court on De La Vina, preserving the affordability of 97 studio units for low-income seniors in Santa Barbara.
Located at 1116 De La Vina, near the city’s downtown corridor, Garden Court opened in 2000 in response to a need for very-low-income housing for frail seniors in Santa Barbara.
“Housing Authority of the City of the Santa Barbara has been part of Garden Court on De La Vina since its inception, and this purchase guarantees it will continue to be used as originally intended,” said Rob Fredericks, HACSB CEO.
“Housing Authority is proud to extend its own resources to protect the property from any future conversion to market rate housing, while protecting existing residents,” he said.
Garden Court was the first of its kind on the South Coast, providing service-enhanced independent living for frail, low-income seniors, including three meals a day, housekeeping, transportation and social programs.
The Housing Authority played a major role in Garden Court’s original design, planning and funding.
In the late 1990s, HACSB’s Board of Commissioners in partnership with the city of Santa Barbara, local architects and developers created the development plan for what would become Garden Court.
The development, funded through the Federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program and the former Redevelopment Agency of the city of Santa Barbara, is a testament to how a partnership between private and public entities can be forged to effectively solve a community need.
Since the development of the property in 2000, HACSB has master-leased the Garden Court property from the owner, a tax credit partnership, and sub-contracted the property management responsibilities to The Parsons Group, Inc.
The Parsons Group has expertise in managing the day-to-day operations of congregate care of frail seniors.
Many of Garden Court’s 97 seniors, 62 years or older, are long-time Santa Barbara-area residents who worked serving the local community as laborers, nurses, business owners and teachers. However, they lack sufficient retirement income to afford private market housing.
For more about the Housing Authority of the City of Santa Barbara visit www.hacsb.org.
— Angel Pacheco for Housing Authority of the City of Santa Barbara.