Goleta’s homeless population is on the rise, leaving the city on a search for solutions.
During the point-in-time count in January, a yearly event where volunteers work to identify the number of unhoused individuals in the county and understand their needs, volunteers found 148 unhoused individuals in Goleta.
While there was a significant decrease in Goleta’s homeless individuals from 2020 to 2022, there has been an increase since 2022.
Of the 148 individuals reported in the point-in-time count, 66 were unsheltered and 82 were living in their vehicles. The number of unsheltered people in Goleta increased by 43% from 2023 while the number of people living in their vehicles decreased by 18%.
At a Goleta City Council meeting on June 4, Kimberly Alvarez from the county homeless services department said that of the 148 homeless residents in Goleta, nearly all were singles, with one homeless family and six transitional aged youth.
Two years ago, the county received $2.52 million in funding to shut down encampments along Highway 101. Since then, 73 people have moved from the encampments into housing and an additional 72 people entered shelter or interim housing, Lucille Boss, encampment resolution coordinator, told the city council.
City Councilmember James Kyriaco acknowledged the success of these projects while noting that with more people falling into homelessness, more needs to be done.
“We’re succeeding, but there have to be other conditions that change,” Kyriaco said. “I think we all know that housing has to be part of that solution, more supportive solutions have to be part of the solution, and frankly tenant protections and getting more resources in the hands of more people have to be part of the solution as well.”
Goleta and the county have begun working on the housing aspect of the problem.
Since April, 48 formerly homeless individuals have found a home at Buena Tierra, a permanent supportive housing site in Goleta.
Buena Tierra is the County Housing Authority's seventh permanent housing development. John Polanskey, director of housing development at the County Housing Authority, said it takes residents six months to a year to adjust to permanent housing.
“The first six to 12 months is that adjustment period as people get stabilized in housing, take a deep breath and realize how they needed to interact with others when they were experiencing homelessness is not how we interact with each other in a community,” said Polanskey.
Once residents get stabilized they begin working on addressing other needs such as mental health, substance abuse, or reconnecting with family members.
Buena Tierra has 15 units for transitional age youth, five for veterans through the Veteran Affairs Supportive housing program, eight units for graduates of Cottage Hospital’s Recuperative Care Program, and the remainder are for those experiencing chronic homelessness or who are at risk of homelessness, according to Polanskey.
The housing project was formerly the site of the Super 8 motel and has apartment-style units that allow for permanent residence. Places such as La Posada Village, which opened in April with 80 units, are designed for interim housing. Polanskey said that a number of residents do come from interim housing.
One such resident is Vicki Jeffries, who said her new home has given her a place to heal.
“The people that are here have a lot of trauma,” Jeffries told Noozhawk. “It’s a good place to heal. We’re all just God’s babies that have had different traumas throughout their lives. They have help groups and support here.”
Before coming to Buena Tierra, Jeffries was homeless for a year, spending time at a homeless shelter before living at Dignity Moves’s tiny home community at 1016 Santa Barbara St.
Jeffries said that it wasn’t easy when she first moved into Buena Tierra and that they had some security issues with other residents and outsiders, but that management has since fixed the issues and improved safety.
Buena Tierra has regular social events for residents, financial advising, support groups, and that people will regularly bring fresh produce and secondhand clothing, according to Jeffries.
While Jeffries said her life has changed for the better, she does miss taking care of others, especially her grandkids who don’t live in the area.
More permanent supportive housing units are on the way for Goleta and the rest of the county. Polanskey said all five county districts have projects in development.
Construction began on July 22 for a new development known as Patterson Point at 80 North Patterson Ave. in Goleta.
Patterson Point will have 23 studio apartments with one manager's unit, a community room, laundry facilities, and kitchen. Construction is expected to take nine months, according to Bernie Baggarly, public information coordinator for the county housing authority.
There are three other housing authority projects currently under construction including a 15-unit permanent supportive housing project in Lompoc, 80 units of affordable housing for families in Guadalupe, and 49 units of permanent supportive housing in Buellton, according to Polanskey.
And there's still more to come.
“We have eight or nine others where I'm trying to identify sites or I've identified a site but then I’m trying to determine what would work well there,” Polanskey said. “Affordable housing is needed everywhere in the county, but the needs and the priorities and the folks that we should look to focus on are different in different parts of the county.”
Buena Tierra will be celebrating its opening with a ribbon cutting on Aug. 15 at 2 p.m.