Habitat for Humanity unveils housing plan

BY ERIC LINDBERG
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

Hidden behind a tangle of vines and tree branches at 618 San Pascual St. is an empty lot, its uneven ground littered with beer bottles and scrap metal.
It hardly seems an inviting place for a family to call home, but it will become exactly that when Habitat for Humanity volunteers clear the clutter and build a four-family complex affordable to those with very-low to low income levels.

Standing on the lopsided lot yesterday morning, Habitat’s Southern Santa Barbara County executive director Joyce McCullough announced the application process is opening shortly for families hoping to receive a spot in the complex.
“We want to get as much word out to this community as we can,” she said.
Residents from Carpinteria to Gaviota are invited to attend any of five orientation meetings later this month, where an extensive look at the application process and an explanation of eligibility criteria will be provided.
In addition to falling between 40 and 60 percent of the area median income — between $21,480 and $32,220 for a family of two and $26,840 to $40,260 for a family of four — applicants will also have to show a need for housing and pitch in 250 hours of labor and homeowner training.
“We love that because every time they come out to build, all these volunteers get to meet the family they are building this home for,” McCullough said. “It’s like an old-fashioned barn raising.”
Along with financial and “sweat equity” requirements, families must be legal residents who have lived and worked on the South Coast for at least a year. They also need a steady source of income in order to pay the no-interest mortgage once the homes are built.
After families complete the application process, Habitat officials will leaf through the eligible candidates and rank them in order of need.
“It’s not a lottery,” McCullough said. “We are very particular and we have a very long and stringent process.”
Included in that process is a visit to the applicants’ current housing to ensure they will be leaving substandard living conditions, whether deteriorated, unsafe or overcrowded, if accepted through the Habitat program.
There are more than 150 families on the waiting list for housing through Habitat for Humanity. The 6,250 square-foot parcel on San Pascual Street will ultimately be home to three 2-bedroom units and one 1-bedroom unit, providing housing for 12 to 14 people.
“The need here is just immense,” McCullough said.
Habitat for Humanity received 177 applications for its first major project in Santa Barbara, the three-unit Via Lucero complex that wrapped up construction last summer. Only 68 of those applicants completed the process, and Habitat officials had to whittle that figure down to just three families.
Bernardo and Maria Zarate are one of those lucky three. They had been living with their two daughters in a garage on lower Milpas Street when Bernardo heard about the program through his church and applied.
“My wife and I, we prayed to God,” he said. “We prayed for 3965 Via Lucero. … I think God answered our prayers.”
After putting in a total of 800 hours of labor, over the course of a year, the Zarates moved into a new three-bedroom home in June.
“My daughters have more space,” Bernardo said. “They each have their own room.”
Watching dozens of volunteers come out every Saturday to help put together their home taught the couple about giving back to the community, they said, and both plan to pitch in at the San Pascual Street site.
“They taught us that it’s more important to give than receive,” Maria said. “I don’t need money to help. I have my own two hands.”
Last week, Habitat officials submitted their designs, drafted by local architect Detty Peikert, to the city Planning Commission.
As of last month, they had raised 37 percent of the $1.8 million needed to buy the land, purchase building material and oversee the construction. Federal and state funding, along with short-term loans from the county and city of Santa Barbara, helped Habitat for Humanity get the project off the ground.
“We’re going to try to break ground and start moving out dirt by the end of the year,” McCullough said.
Workers will have to remove 1,700 cubic yards of dirt from the property to level it out. The bulk of construction will take place next year and officials hope to have the project complete by late 2009.
Through an affordability covenant, the units will stay in the city’s affordable housing stock for a minimum of 45 years.
Although it is their first project from scratch in Santa Barbara, McCullough said they are drawing on a great wealth of knowledge from other Habitat projects nationwide.
And while the need for housing on the South Coast is daunting at times, Habitat’s director of development Angelique Davis said that merely serves as inspiration to get more housing projects in the pipeline. Habitat for Humanity has only been operating in the Santa Barbara area since 2000, and Davis hopes as the program becomes more established, they will be able to build more affordable housing every year.
“We are very young,” she said, “but we are very ambitious and determined.”

Family selection orientation meetings will take place on:
Feb. 19 at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, 7 p.m.
Feb. 20 at St. Raphael’s Catholic Church, 7 p.m.
Feb. 21 at University Religious Center, 7 p.m.
Feb. 22 at Casa de la Raza, 7 p.m.
Feb. 23 at Shoreline Community Church, 10 a.m.