Mary Johnston, from left, Housing Authority of the City of Santa Barbara (HACSB) Boarrd of Commissioners Chair; Mayor Helene Schneide; Assembly member Das Williams; City Councilmember Cathy Murillo; and members of the HACSB Board of Commissioners at the Bradley Studios grand opening ceremony. Courtesy photo.
SANTA BARBARA — The Housing Authority of the City of Santa Barbara, community leaders and invited guests celebrated the grand opening – and ahead-of-schedule completion – of the Bradley Studios, the organization reported in a media release.
Since January, the Housing Authority has been constructing their newest development, creating 54 new affordable housing units to serve priority needs of the community. The event included remarks from Mayor Helene Schneider, Assembly member Das Williams, a former foster youth moving in from Artisan Court, and Housing Authority leadership. The ceremony concluded with a ribbon-cutting and the presentation of an award from the California Association of Housing Authorities. Guests toured the property and were then treated to lunch courtesy of The Organic Soup Kitchen.
The affordable rental studios are targeted for populations including low and extremely low-income downtown workers and special needs individuals. The new residents will include former foster youth who have successfully participated in the 18-month YMCA Youth and Family Services self-sufficiency program while living at the Housing Authority’s Artisan Court and residents of El Carrillo who are formerly homeless individuals who have now achieved the level of stability to move to Bradley Studio’s less intensive level of supportive services, and 50 percent of residents will be downtown workers.
“With residents successfully transitioning from the higher level of supportive services at Artisan Court and El Carrillo to a less intensive level of support here at Bradley Studios, we are creating a continuum to enable more people to achieve self-sufficiency,” Rob Pearson, executive director and CEO of the Housing Authority of the City of Santa Barbara, stated in the release. “We are grateful to our project partners for making it possible to provide housing that addresses priority needs of our community.”
With Bradley Studios planning for full occupancy, the development is immediately becoming another valuable, collaborative housing program in our community – providing shelter, but also keeping people moving successfully from need to independence. The design and construction also features key environmental considerations appropriate to its proximity to the Lower Mission Creek Flood Control Project area.
Housing Authority of the City of Santa Barbara:
The Housing Authority of the City of Santa Barbara is a local public agency created for the purpose of providing safe, decent, and quality affordable housing and supportive services to eligible persons with limited incomes, through a variety of federal, state, local and private resources. Since 1969, the Housing Authority of the City of Santa Barbara has developed and/or secured over 3,000 units of affordable rental housing for Santa Barbara. Please visit the website at www.hacsb.org
More than 100 community leaders and invited guests celebrated the grand opening of the Housing Authority of the City of Santa Barbara’s Bradley Studios, the organization’s newest affordable housing development. Courtesy photo.