There is no happier place than a Habitat build site. Friends are made, cultural differences vanish, skills are learned and people are transformed.
Find out how you can get involved!
We are thrilled that our second project is well on its way to completion. Habitat for Humanity of SSBC acquired a 6,970 square-foot vacant lot on San Pascual Street with short-term loans provided by the Housing Trust Fund of Santa Barbara County and the City of Santa Barbara. On this site, we are building four homes for 14 people.
With the help of Schipper Construction, Terra Firma Equipment, Gordon-Fiano Framing and volunteers providing thousands of hours under the leadership of Site Supervisor Phil Archenbronn, we are on track to complete the homes by December, 2010.
We welcome volunteers to help us build! Sign up to volunteer or donate to help make this project a success! We hope to see you on the job site soon.
See below for our construction in progress. (Updated August 10, 2010) Special thanks to KEYT for allowing us to take photos from their balcony and to our volunteer photographer Dave Williams for taking the photos!
A Brush with Kindness is a program that helps preserve homeownership by partnering with homeowners struggling to restore and maintain a safe and decent place to live. When basic expenses exceed income month after month, home maintenance is the usual casualty. Years of deferred maintenance can cause a downward spiral of home deterioration and unsafe living conditions. Habitat for Humanity’s program “A Brush with Kindness” can provide volunteer work that includes exterior painting, landscaping and completing minor fence repairs on homes of low-income homeowners.
Homeowner eligibility:
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Family income must be under 80% of Santa Barbara County’s AMI ($59,200 for a family of four)
Homes must be owner-occupied
Homeowners are willing to partner with staff and volunteers
Homeowners make an affordable re-payment to Habitat for Humanity for the cost of materials to complete the work
In 2007 completed our first major Habitat for Humanity building project in Santa Barbara—three condominiums located near the upper end of State Street on Via Lucero. Previously living in unconverted garages and transitional housing, three hard-working, deserving families moved into their new homes in April, 2007. And, they’re taking full advantage of their new opportunity. One family has started their own landscaping business. Two of the moms now teach Spanish to the kindergarten class at Monte Vista School. And two of the little girls, who once never dared venture outside because of gang activity, now merrily ride their bikes around their driveway.
The Katrina House 2005
One of our proudest achievements was our partnership with several local organizations to build "The Katrina House". Crane Country Day School students, faculty and parents supported a project undertaken by Allen Associates to build a "home in a box" that was partially assembled here in Santa Barbara, then shipped to Bay St. Louis, Mississippi.
Remarkably, this house was the first house allowed to be built in that city, and stood amid rubble for many months as a hopeful sign of the rebirth of that area.
Timeline of projects completed in Santa Barbara
July 2000
Our first home renovation was for Irene of Goleta. As a low-income senior with MS she could not afford a bathroom remodel and could no longer take a bath or shower in her home so was forced to rinse off with the garden hose. Our volunteers added to, and completely renovated her bathroom to make it wheelchair accessible.
September 2000
Habitat volunteers painted apartments, installed locks, and hung carbon monoxide testers at Laguna Cottages, a nonprofit organization that provides affordable, downtown residences for the elderly and disabled.
December 2000
Habitat for Humanity of SSBC participated in a one day state-wide event dedicated to helping low-income seniors paint their homes. Paint California recognized Habitat for Humanity of SSBC for mobilizing the most volunteers of any participating organization.
June 2001
Installing a new roof for disabled seniors, Bob and Mary of Santa Barbara, who were in poor health and had mounting medical bills, proved that we could not only recruit volunteers but also train them. Many inexperienced volunteers learned how to roof a house, replace fascia and install shingles. Sadly, Bob has since passed away, but Mary is still enjoying her new roof.
March 2002
Before Casa Esparanza was complete, Habitat teamed with the Homeless Coalition to renovate the Banana Bungalow Youth Hostel to use as a temporary homeless shelter. Volunteers re-wired the kitchen, painted the interior and retrofitted the stairs making the facility livable.
June 2003
The wellbeing of children is core to our mission of ending substandard housing. With this in mind, Habitat’s volunteers installed a new play structure for the Goleta Boys and Girls Club and also repaired the perimeter fence providing much needed security.
December 2003
A truly inspiring project that brought out volunteers from across the community was the interior painting completed by Habitat volunteers for the opening of the Santa Barbara Rescue Mission’s Bethel House substance abuse treatment facility for women.
July 2005
Habitat was pleased to recruit volunteers to paint the St. Vincent’s Day Care facility, a part of the PATHS program. The PATHS program provides transitional housing and services for single mothers who are on welfare or whose incomes are at or below poverty level.
September 2005
One of our proudest achievements was our partnership with several local organizations to build "The Katrina House". Habitat for Humanity of SSBC along with Crane Country Day School students, faculty and parents supported a project undertaken by Allen Associates to build a "home in a box" that was partially assembled here in Santa Barbara, and then shipped to Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. Remarkably, this house was the first house allowed to be built in that city, and stood amid rubble for many months as a hopeful sign of the rebirth of that area.
2006-2007
The most notable and important project undertaken to date is our three-home building project on Via Lucero. Five adults and seven children moved into their new homes in April 2007 demonstrating that we can build owner-occupied affordable homes in Santa Barbara and transform lives. Over 1,000 volunteers contributed over 11,000 hours while the Partner families themselves invested over 1,300 hours to build their home and homes of their new neighbors.
2008
Spurred by the success and momentum generated by the Via Lucero building project, we are looking forward to expanding our work to eliminate substandard housing. We acquired a 6,970 square-foot vacant lot at 618 San Pascual Street with short-term loans provided by the Housing Trust Fund of Santa Barbara County and the City of Santa Barbara. On this site, we will buil four more homes for deserving, local low-income families.
In August 20008, we opened the “Habitat ReStore” at 6725 Hollister in Goleta. The ReStore accepts new and quality used building materials then sells them in order to earn income for the organization. The ReStore provides several benefits including; the acquisition of highly usable materials for our Habitat homes at no cost, a steady stream of revenue (from sales) to be used to support Habitat’s mission to eliminate substandard housing; and finally, it provides the opportunity to divert a great amount of usable building materials from local landfills. Habitat ReStores around the country promote awareness and responsive action about our environment while funding administrative costs. The ReStore is open Wednesday-Friday from 12:00PM to 5:00PM and Saturdays, 9:00AM to 5:00PM.
2009
With pre-development activities complete, we recieved our building permits for the the “San Pascual” project which consists of three, 2 bedroom, 1.5 bath homes and a one bedroom, 1 bath home. These homes will be Energy Star® rated, and with the use of quality recycled building materials from the Habitat ReStore , will have an important green component enabling us to work towards environmentally (and financially) responsible development in our community.
2010
Construction is underway! The first phase of construction was completed by professional contractors, who completed installation of shoring piles against one side of the property. Retaining were also constructed and excavation is complete. Foundations and building pads were prepared in May and our above-ground construction started June 4, 2010.
We welcome volunteers to help us build. Please fill out our volunteer interest form so we can let you know about volunteer opportunites. Click Here to donate to the San Pascual project.