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Santa Barbara First District Supervisor Das Williams — Homeless Encampments Funding, Los Padres Closure, CWPP, & COVID-19 Update

by Community Contributor • August 31, 2021 • Comments Off

Board of Supervisors Homeless Encampments Update

(Aug. 31), our Board approved nearly $1.5 million in American Result Plan Act funding to implement an expanded Encampment Resolution Strategy to eliminate homeless encampments in the county. This is in addition to the work and $48 million in funding that has been invested in the 2020-2021 Fiscal Year. The outcomes of some of this work and funding over the last 6 months are detailed on the slide below. All of the Supervisors were in full agreement that encampments are not safe for those who live in them or the residents who live in the vicinity of them and we all expressed our eagerness to solve this problem. In order to move those who live in encampments out of those encampments, we need places for them to go. I have, personally, been working hard to determine locations, such as empty parking lots, where we can put temporary housing to move folks into a more safe and clean setting as we work on placing them in permanent housing. If you have a location we could put temporary housing and are interested in partnering with the County, please let me know.

Six Month Homeless update August 31 2021 _002_.png

USFS Closing Los Padres through Sept 18

As of today at noon, the US Forest Service has closed Los Padres National Forest due to intense fire danger. This applies to all campgrounds and front-country trails as well.

All of the front country trails listed below are temporarily closed due to Regional Order 21-07 – Emergency Forest Closure:

Jesusita Trail
Tunnel Trail
Rattlesnake Trail
East and West Cold Springs Trail
San Ysidro Trail
Hot Springs Trail
Romero Trail

Carpinteria-Summerland Fire Protection District Community Wildfire Protection Plan

As we are well aware, wildfires pose one of the greatest risks to human life, property, environment, and local economies along this portion of the Central Coast, with the Carpinteria-Summerland Fire Protection District providing fire services to approximately 17,747 residents and 4,500 structures. Both Carpinteria and Summerland are identified as Communities at Risk by CALFIRE, with approximately 84% of the total land area in the District designated as having a moderate to very high fire hazard severity rating. Santa Barbara County has a long history of large wildfires, with many of these fires burning into the local communities along the Highway 101 corridor of southern Santa Barbara County. While frequent large fires have consumed much of the heavy fuels adjacent to Carpinteria and Summerland, rapid post-fire vegetation recovery and lengthening fire seasons and drought associated with climatic change sets the stage for future wildfires to impact the local communities. Today, with the support of my colleagues, we unanimously passed an update to the Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) which provides a science and engineering-based assessment of the wildfire threat in the wildland urban interface (WUI) of the Carpinteria-Summerland Fire Protection District. This CWPP was developed through a collaborative process involving the Fire District, surrounding fire agencies, county officials, county, state, and federal land management agencies, and community members. It is an important step in mitigating fire risks as a community. To view the full document click here.

COVID-19 Update

At today’s Board of Supervisors hearing we received an update on COVID-19.

As of August 20th, cases are approximately 5 times more likely to arise in unvaccinated individuals compared to those who are vaccinated. As you can see from the graph below, cases are trending upwards for unvaccinated individuals, while they are trending downwards for vaccinated individuals. This is a call to get vaccinated if you are eligible. You can make an appointment here.

Hospital capacity has slightly improved this week in some good news.

We also received information about the third dose for those who are immuno-compromised, and booster doses for the general population. As soon as September 20th, individuals will be able to receive a booster dose 8 months after their second dose. Those who are immunocompromised will be able to receive a third dose 28 days after their 2nd dose. See more information in the chart below.

Lastly, we also voted as a Board to require County Employees to either receive a COVID-19 vaccination, or undergo weekly testing. I strongly supported this action as a crucial tool in the effort to increase our vaccination rate. Since the beginning of the pandemic, one of my highest priorities has been making sure that we can get students back in their desks at school so that we don’t lose them from the education system, or add to the already rapidly increasing levels of depression, anxiety, and suicide. It is incredibly important to have our schools open and remain open but in reality, that is in danger unless we have higher levels of vaccination as a County.