A new Eastern Goleta Valley supportive housing complex for homeless families from DignityMoves — a nonprofit organization that builds transitional housing — should start construction in September, a spokesperson confirmed to Noozhawk.
The new complex is expected to have 30 units: seven studio units, seven one-bedroom units and 16 two-bedroom units. That project site on Santa Barbara County’s Calle Real campus is currently being used as an overflow parking lot.
Santa Barbara County and DignityMoves also announced Tuesday that they received a $11.7 million state grant to build the complex and cover part of the operations funding.
The $14.5 million construction cost will be funded by that state grant and DignityMoves fundraising.
Remaining and year-to-year project costs will be funded by that grant, the county Department of Behavioral Health, California Housing and Community Development, CenCal Health, DignityMoves and resident rents, according to Jack Lorenz, DignityMoves’ regional advancement director. (Residents will generally pay 30% of their income to live in the units.)
Once built, the village will serve as transitional housing, offering homeless families a place to stay as well as supportive services — such as addiction care, career services and mental health care, among others — until they can get into permanent housing.
Residents could move in as soon as October 2027, Lorenz said.
DignityMoves, which operates statewide, has built three other supportive housing projects in Santa Barbara County: the 34-unit Santa Barbara State Street Village, the 92-unit Hope Village in Santa Maria and the 84-unit La Posada, located in unincorporated county territory at a former Juvenile Hall site between the cities of Goleta and Santa Barbara.
Those three complexes were built with modular homes and on underutilized, donated sites, part of DignityMoves’ strategy to get homes built quickly. They will eventually be moved once DignityMoves’ short-term contracts are up with the landowner.
Unlike the other three, the new Family Village will be more permanent, with plans to remain on that site for a minimum of 55 years, per Lorenz.
The Family Village also will — as the name implies — focus on families. While the other sites are built more “dorm-style,” with single rooms and communal bathrooms, the Village will serve more as apartments, Lorenz said.
Santa Barbara County Second District Supervisor Laura Capps said the project will “help keep families together, give parents the support they need, and provide kid(s) with the stability that they deserve.”
DignityMoves founder and CEO Elizabeth Funk said the new complex will “offer a foundation for stability, healing and a pathway forward.”
“We are honored to continue our partnership with Santa Barbara County to bring urgently needed housing to families,” she said.
More information about the project will be shared from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. July 8 at the Santa Barbara County Education Office Auditorium, 4400 Cathedral Oaks Road.
