Muristek
County puts aside application after objections from the city of Santa Maria KENNETH SONG/NEWS-PRESS FILE PHOTOSupervisor Steve Lavagnino said he doesn’t want to move forward with a Santa Maria homeless shelter without a collaborative partnership with the city of Santa Maria.
Santa Barbara County is postponing a step in the process to turn a Santa Maria motel into a homeless shelter.
The Board of Supervisors, in partnership with the Housing Authority of the County of Santa Barbara, has delayed the application process for a state grant.
The $17.9 million grant would fund the purchase of a 75-unit Motel 6 on East Main Street, which would be turned into a homeless shelter. The deadline to apply for the grant is Monday.
At this time, the Board of Supervisors will not be moving forward with the grant application, after facing significant resistance from the city of Santa Maria. At its meeting Tuesday in Santa Maria, the board decided not to allocate the $3.5 million needed to qualify the housing authority for the grant.
“At the end of the day, you have to put these people somewhere,” 5th District Supervisor Steve Lavagnino told the News-Press, referring to the homeless who would have lived in a motel renovated to serve as a shelter.
He said the city assured the county that wrap-around services and 24-hour security would be on-site should the project move forward.
CITY OF SANTA MARIASanta Maria Mayor Alice Patino expressed concern that Santa Barbara County’s proposed homeless shelter was a rushed, last-minute effort.“While the county could continue to move forward, I don’t really want to move forward without a collaborative partnership with the city,” Supervisor Lavagnino told the News-Press.
“While I understand their hesitancy, this isn’t a perfect solution, and I don’t think there is one,” Supervisor Lavagnino said, conceding he understood the city’s concerns.
Santa Maria Mayor Alice Patino expressed her concerns with the 11th-hour effort, which only allowed time for the mayor to have one meeting with Supervisor Lavagnino and the housing authority.
Mayor Patino said she felt that the project was not well thought-out or planned.
She expressed that she felt the proposed shelter was a very rushed, last-minute effort and that she had no time to propose this project to the citizens of Santa Maria.
Mayor Patino also expressed concerns with the North Depot Street apartments in Santa Maria. The project was developed by the county housing authority.
When the North Depot Street apartments went in, a lot of guarantees fell through, she said.
“Until they can clean up the problems at the Depot Street apartments, I think it’s inappropriate to let them put in more apartments,” Mayor Patino told the News-Press.
Mayor Patino also said that she heard a veteran who lived in the North Depot Street apartments say, “I don’t feel safe here.”
“There are a lot of unresolved issues that need to be resolved,” Mayor Patino said. “I still don’t know what the plan is supposed to be.”
email: kzhender@newpress.com
The post Santa Maria homeless shelter effort delayed appeared first on Santa Barbara News-Press.