Edhat Staff
Jardin de las Rosas (courtesy photo)
A grand opening celebration took place last week for Peoples’ Self-Help Housing’s (PSHH) Jardin de las Rosas, an affordable rental housing project in Santa Barbara.
Located at 510 N. Salsipuedes Street, the 40 rentals consist of 1, 2, and 3-bedroom units with a Michael Towbes Community Center and Jeanette Duncan Learning Center, which will offer supportive services like educational programs for children and workforce preparedness for adults.
The property also has a multi-purpose room, staff offices, an interior courtyard with a “tot lot,” a playground, and a 35-foot-wide mural by local artists.
The housing development recently received the top GreenPoint ranking for its environmental friendliness by Build it Green, a professional non-profit membership organization that sets the standard for green homes.
“It is exciting and rewarding for us to know that our new developments are offering more than just affordable housing for the Central Coast,” said John Fowler, President & CEO of PSHH. “We consciously build our properties to be environmentally friendly and I am so proud that JDLR not only meets but exceeds green standards.”
Some features that earned the development project the Platinum GreenPoint rating include stormwater management through bio-retention swales in the landscaping, durable moisture and fire-resistant materials used, Energy Star appliances, LED lighting, a rooftop solar photovoltaic system to provide electricity to common areas, just to name a few.
The property is located in a priority housing overlay zone that was identified through the community input process which informed the City’s Plan Santa Barbara outreach effort. According to PSHH, it is one of the first projects approved through the City’s pilot program under the new ordinance, and a key implementation action of the City’s General Plan.
Funding agencies include California Community Reinvestment Corp., J.P. Morgan Chase, City of Santa Barbara, HOME & Redevelopment, Goleta Valley Housing Committee, and Enterprise Community Partners. Development partners include architects Peikert + RRM Design Group, landscape architect Robert Andrew Fowler, civil engineer Stantec and structural engineer Ashley & Vance Engineering Inc.
First-year financial support for the new learning center and educational programs at JDLR has been provided by the Women’s Fund of Santa Barbara, the Williams-Corbett Family Foundation, Pacific Premier Bank, and First Republic Bank.
I’m glad they are for rent, and not to buy. The programs where people buy at subsidized rates, but then get to sell at full market rate at some specified future date, are a terrible idea–and yet they’re are many of those around. These, at least, can be kept “affordable” forever.
You don’t feed the city pensions by taking more private property off the property tax rolls, and creating even more non-profit tax free housing. Nor concentrating even more people with little discretionary income around the central business district. The problem with Santa Barbara is lack of turn-over, not lack of inventory. People come here and they stay. You cannot build your way out of this. It is a fact of premium location real estate. The only way the city can feed its pensions is to have more multi-million dollar property ownership, with no “affordable” strings attached. That is the only way the city can even begin dig itself out of its self-inflicted pension mess. The other way is renegotiate all city employee contracts.
Just how “affordable” are these supposed to be..?
And the water is …..????? that’s okay, just build away……
People’s income going up? Where? The only folks who see their income go up are those who don’t qualify for affordable housing and don’t need it. Wages have been stagnating for the the past 25 years.
Anyone who claims we need family housing in this town has not driven the Hollister corridor in Goleta lately – tons of family housing. For “young professionals”. They don’t need or want tiny rabbit warrens with no parking or unsafe downtown neighborhoods. Goleta is supplying plenty of housing along with good schools, as they always have.
“… workforce preparedness for adults.” Shouldn’t this housing be provided for those who are already working and contributing to the community vs those who are liabilities…?
It’s not just about young single professionals. It’s about working professionals with families. The average price for a single family home in Goleta is still around 1M. That is not affordable for your average two income working professional family. The local industry is losing skilled/professional workers directly due to cost of housing and hiring experienced employees from out of the area is next to impossible. I’m not sure what world you’re living in if you believe there is plenty of of housing in Goleta.
“Environmentally friendly”, “Green”? I’m sorry but I feel that the couple of single family dwellings that were on that block before they built this mega complex was much more green and environmentally friendly.
The small businesses in the area are very worried that all of the on-street parking that was used by their clients will now be occupied by the tenants living in this high density building. Of course it doesn’t have enough parking spaces for the people that live there thanks to the SB City Planning Dept. But for the few people that won the housing lottery and get great rents, they are doing pretty well. It seems like we are in the business of picking winners and losers with our current system.
City of SB, raking in fees and property taxes, got to keep those pensions funded.
“Transparent California” is hardly an objective source of information, given that it is run by the Nevada Policy Research Institute, a bunch of Teabagger troglodytes.
Fred Flintstone was a Liberal troglodyte.
no teachers do not make 100k /yr
The most a teacher can make in SB is about $91k/year. That’s with a master’s degree and 23 years on the job. The salary schedules are public and available at sbunified.org
Who is buying those rows and rows and rows of new housing in Goleta – if they are selling they are affordable. It is the recent grads from UCSB with no skill sets who demand to continue living in this area and that someone else is now also supposed to provide them housing -that is where the bulk of this demand for “affordable” housing comes from – the young entitlement set. Government is the biggest employer and they pay huge starting salaries – or rather tax payers pay them huge starting salaries and that is just the beginning of their career renumeration. The rest who have insufficient skill sets or refuse to take government jobs, have chosen the wrong location for themselves. Plus the reality is it will always take two incomes if one wants to stay in town, so double up.
Teacher pay in Santa Barbara: You have to go past page five with 50 school employee names a page on Transparent California before you can find any teacher making less than $100K for a nine month year. Plus Transparent California busts the other teacher union myth – there are too many highly paid administrators. There are some naturally, and they do work a 12 month year, so they on average don’t make much more than teachers who work only a nine month year. By far the pages and pages of local teachers making well over $100K for their 9 month contract (180 days) are the facts on the table.
Now tell the truth I know a teacher and he does not make that much.
Lots of people like to point to the “total compensation” for some of the more experienced teachers – they factor in pension and benefits (health/ dental). While yes, the “total compensation” = “what the taxpayers have to pay for”, it does not equal the amount of money that teachers actually make in a year.
And even among the most experienced teachers I know (some who are at 35-40 years), not a single one of them makes a salary of above $90k.
Lots of people like to point to the “total compensation” for some of the more experienced teachers – they factor in pension and benefits (health/ dental). While yes, the “total compensation” = “what the taxpayers have to pay for”, it does not equal the amount of money that teachers actually make in a year.
And even among the most experienced teachers I know (some who are at 35-40 years), not a single one of them makes a salary of above $90k.
Unfact – I hope you’re wearing boots when you shovel that stuff into the comment boxes.
Civilengineer, why are you still disputing the state treasurer and agency’s ow data submitted to Transparent Califoria? Do you find the actual amount paid to teachers surprising? Where have you been getting your data to the contrary. Please share, because you can’t just make things up or twist actual facts to support some other agenda. Be proud we pay our teachers so much. California voters supported Prop 98 that requires 50% of all general state tax revenues are dedicated only to education in this state. We pay teachers extremely well. Now let’s work on getting matching results for our students. That needs to be the primary concern; not misrepresenting public facts about teacher compensation.
Transparent California is a collection of data provided by the reporting agencies themselves. Same information is also available from the state treasurers office, but not as readily accessible. There in nothing wrong with the Transparent California data; except taxpayers finally learning what they are paying government “civil servants” and giving lie to an annual dunning taxpayers get from those same government employee unions. Bookmark Transparent California and look up every government employee and elected official’s name when they tell you they are underpaid, overworked and under appreciated. This is a very revealing exercise and may motivate you to vote differently in the next elections, instead of automatically backing the union supported candidates..
Most people work hard and often take work home with them. Either teachers are well-paid “professionals” or salaried and fungible hourly workers. Can’t have it both ways. There is classroom prep time since most classes are out by 3pm, allowing several more hours in the typical 8 hour work day. Use them wisely. Average teacher salaries are meaninless since this includes many who work part time or are substitutes. Bottomline: taxpayers fund FT teachers well over $100K a year for a 9 month year. California is ranked near the top nations wide in teacher pay and yet again score near the bottom in student ourcomes – just recently only above Alaska as #49 math, but typically #45 Nationwide for both English and Math. Top paid teachers and lowest performing students is an egregious success model. Heal thyself, California teachers.
When I hear the never-ending demand for “affordable” housing, here is what I hear: I refuse to commute to areas I can afford; I refuse to buy an in town mobile home; I refuse to acquire the skill sets necessary that allow me to live in a premium priced coastal location; I refuse to take a government job; I want something for nothing; I want someone else to give me their money. 20% of our housing is now permanently dedicated low-income and/or senior affordable. Anything more than the current 20% we already have will undermine a necessary and thriving market economy. Final message: live within your means and make your choices accordingly.