A Santa Barbara woman expressed her gratitude Wednesday as volunteers with Habitat for Humanity of Southern Santa Barbara County worked on repairing her home, marking the organization’s 200th home repair.
“I really don’t have enough words to thank you all for everything you do, for the organization, for the heads of the departments, for the volunteers,” homeowner Teresa Cardenas said. “It’s not just what they do; it is their kindness, it is their compassion and understanding.”
The southern Santa Barbara County affiliate of Habitat for Humanity was founded in 2000, and in 2010, the affiliate began its home repair program, through which local volunteers and licensed contractors provide both minor repairs and major repairs as well as safety improvements, such as roof and flooring repairs, fall prevention and more.
“When you think of Habitat, you might immediately have a picture that comes to mind — building new homes around the world and, luckily, building some new homes right here in Santa Barbara,” Lora Fisher with Habitat for Humanity of Southern Santa Barbara County said. “But what a lot of people don’t know is the magnitude of Habitat’s home repair program, the need for home repairs, and the impact the organization has made since its inception.”
To qualify for home repairs through the program, partners in need of critical repairs must be low-income, own the home they live in and “agree to a spirit of partnership, including sweat equity when appropriate.”
Habitat for Humanity of Southern Santa Barbara County CEO Jessica de L’Arbre said that 80% of the people the organization served through the home repair program in the past two years were extremely low income, some making as little as $10,000 to $12,000, while home repairs provided have cost between $20,000 and $25,000.
She added that many of the homeowners have one or more disabilities and about 90% were age 63 or older, although the program is available to anyone who meets the criteria.
“I want to acknowledge this really, kind of, paradox — to be fortunate enough to live in Santa Barbara and own a home — it’s the dream, right?” de L’Arbre said. “I’m here to educate you, though, that behind the veneer of Santa Barbara’s prosperity, behind the closed door, the needs can be profound, and our program can be not only life-changing but sometimes lifesaving.”
De L’Arbre and other people with Habitat for Humanity of Santa Barbara County emphasized the importance of assisting people in homes that are already affordable, keeping people from being displaced — a “huge issue” in the Santa Barbara area.
Cardenas told Noozhawk that she has owned her home for 28 years, and work in the two-day volunteer effort that began Wednesday consists of repairing the roof — which de L’Arbre said has been needed for more than 10 years, with leaks impacting multiple rooms in the house — landscaping, closing holes, and painting and redoing the home’s siding.
Along with her gratitude, Cardenas expressed wanting more people to know about Habitat for Humanity’s home repair program, and for more government to see these programs and do more, such as provide funding.
Since 2020, Santa Barbara County and the City of Santa Barbara have helped provide funding for Habitat for Humanity’s program.
“Sometimes, unfortunately, we forget about our elderly,” Cardenas told Noozhawk. “There are a lot of people in need who are alone, who don’t know how to ask or they cannot ask, or maybe they don’t speak the language. It was very hard for me to approach [Habitat for Humanity of Southern Santa Barbara County] because it takes your pride and everything. They have been very kind, very compassionate, and I am very, very thankful from the bottom of my heart to them.”