Homelessness in Santa Barbara is on the rise — the first year-over-year increase since 2020.

And the outlook doesn’t look much better.

The State of California has cut the city’s Permanent Local Housing Allocation by half — from $775,000 to $388,450 for next fiscal year. The money goes to grants for local programs and service providers.

The city found a way to pull money together for next year, but after that there will be a problem.

“If the city does not identify other ways to increase revenue, then you will have to make other significant changes,” Assistant City Administrator Barbara Andersen said. “This is disheartening for us.”

The Santa Barbara City Council met Tuesday to talk about homelessness and strategies to address people living on the streets and in vehicles. The council took no formal vote, but some members shared views on how they want the city staff to tackle issue.

The money from the state was cut because statewide real estate transactions are down because of an increase in interest rates. The city will have to find a way to make up the money longer term.

“Without these investments, the city will be in a very difficult situation,” Andersen said.

The overall increase is fueled by a few factors, she said.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many families were unable to work. However, at that time, groups such as United Way of Santa Barbara County were offering tenant and rental assistance to keep people in their homes. Once that funding faded, in about 2022, homelessness increased.

United Way was providing about 2,000 families in Santa Barbara with financial assistance during the pandemic, Andersen said.

The most significant growth was seniors as well as families with kids.

“Seniors who have lost their partners don’t have dual incomes anymore,” Andersen said.

Many of those individuals move into vehicles. In 2023, there were about 206 people in the city living in their cars. The number rose to 301 in 2024.

“We have a number — a significant percentage — who are living in their vehicles who are working day to day,” Andersen said.

Santa Barbara City Councilwoman Alejandra Gutierrez raised financial concerns about how the city handles its homelessness problem.

“I have always been a big advocate for prevention,” she said. “I really want to encourage council and staff and our partners to have a more robust tracking system of our programs and people we serve to start preventing homelessness instead of just being reactive and attacking the issue at hand.”

In fiscal year 2023, the City of Santa Barbara spent about $1.6 million in service provider
contracts in support of homelessness prevention, rental subsidies, shelter services,
supportive services, interim housing, street outreach and coordination of services.

In addition, the city spent an estimated $5.4 million to address the impacts of homelessness from public safety and enforcement, encampment clean-up, increased janitorial services, repair of damaged city facilities, and dedicated staffing support.

The total number of homeless in Santa Barbara in 2024, according to the county’s Point in Time Count, was 987. It was 787 in 2023 and 822 in 2022.

Councilwoman Kristen Sneddon said it is a duty and obligation for the council and the city to show compassion and make efforts to serve all of its residents.

She pointed to the audience, which mostly consisted of service providers.

“I think it is a testament to the success of many of these programs that we don’t have a standing-room-only in this room with multiple stories of what is going wrong, but we hear more and more of the things that are going right,” Sneddon said. “Even if it is one success at a time, we are not hearing about the hundreds of issues and heartbreaking stories all in the same day and time.”

Sneddon also noted the success of the FARO Center, a partnership with the Santa Barbara Alliance for Community Transformation (SB ACT), which provides wrap-around services at one location, 621 Chapala St. The center provides case management, work development, mental health support, housing referrals and document readiness.

“That was and is a huge success,” Sneddon said.