Housing Authority of the City of Santa Barbara (HACSB) has named City Net as its Outstanding Community Partner of the Year.
The Housing Authority created its annual partner award as a way of recognizing and thanking organizations and businesses that help change lives for the better.
The supportive services provided to clients through a collaboration with City Net are an essential part of the Housing Authority’s holistic service delivery approach, HACSB said.
Founded in 2005 in Long Beach, California, City Net’s mission is based on a
commitment to break the cycle of homelessness in the communities they serve by connecting neighbors experiencing homelessness to transformative care and innovative housing solutions.
HACSB partners with City Net through the SB Connect Home project, which was established in April 2019. The program was made possible by a $2 million grant from the California Homeless Emergency Aid Program (HEAP), which remained in effect until June 30, 2021.
In addition to HACSB, City Net brought together other key partners to the Connect Home program including Cottage Health, Santa Barbara Restorative Police, and People Assisting the Homeless (PATH).
“Our teams understand that it truly ‘takes a village’ to help serve the most vulnerable members of our community,” said Brad Fieldhouse, City Net CEO.
“Our successes are reflective of our team’s expertise in navigating the complicated system of care, engaging and coordinating care plans with other service providers, and working with local business owners and concerned community members to creatively strategize ways around systematic barriers,” Fieldhouse said.
“We know that housing is the only solution to homelessness, and that takes proficiency, innovation, and participation by all for successful housing placements,” he said.
City Net’s presence in Santa Barbara has streamlined homelessness services provided by an alliance of city government and nonprofit groups.
Their work has resulted in ending street-level homelessness through the provision of street-outreach, case management, housing navigation, bridge-housing, shelter operation, reunifications, and census coordination.
City Net also works to mobilize community resources, including meals, volunteers, donations and advocacy, to coordinate care in emergency shelters, parks, and other public areas where houseless neighbors live.
These efforts seek to reduce wasteful duplication and fill missing gaps in the continuum of care, with the long-term goal of ending homelessness by providing houseless neighbors a stable context in which their emergency needs are met, so they can work on long-term housing plans.
City Net started in Santa Barbara in April 2019, partnering with Cottage Hospital, HACSB, Santa Barbara Fire and Police departments, and People Assisting the Homeless (PATH) Emergency Shelter.
City Net served the top 50 users of emergency services, 37 of whom are now permanently housed.
Since then, City Net has continued to work under this collaborative model and expanded its contracts to serve Santa Barbara County, Santa Barbara City, Montecito, and Goleta. They have operated an array of projects, including street outreach, encampment resolution, interim housing, housing navigation, and housing supportive services.
City Net prides itself on its professionally trained outreach workers, who are capable of de-escalating challenging situations and addressing clients’ barriers to care.
“Our staff approach clients as people first, clients second,” said Fieldhouse. “We learn about them. We sit with them in their hardships and celebrate their successes.
“We question them about where they came from, how they ended up here, where do they want to go, what do they want to accomplish in their lives. Once this rapport is built, we use this information to create case plans unique to everyone based on our training and knowledge of the system.
“And then, we do absolutely whatever it takes to move that client from unsheltered to sheltered to permanently and successfully housed.”
The following numbers reflect City Net’s countywide data, serving people experiencing homelessness from April 2, 2019-April 2, 2024:
• Permanently housed 675
• Had 1927 active clients
• Conducted 12,706 service transactions
• Street exits to shelters – 654
• Adults with income increases – 182
*Some numbers include clients who had multiple touches/services
The 2023 award was presented by Rob Fredericks, HACSB executive director/ CEO, to Fieldhouse on March 20, 2024 at HACSB headquarters, 808 Laguna St., Santa Barbara.
“The City Net team are an amazing, caring group of people who are mission driven to help the most vulnerable homeless in our community obtain
and retain housing,” said Fredericks. “They have done tireless work in partnership with us over the last year, as well as other local organizations, with positive results in getting people housed and providing necessary services.”
In accepting the award Fieldhouse said, “We are most proud of our ability to find creative housing solutions for our clients, averaging about 100 placements per year, and set them up with stability plans and support to keep them housed.”