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Section 8 Nightmare
O
n the Thursday before the Summer Solstice parade, I woke from a nap and saw to my horror that the next-door apartment building was completely engulfed in flames. After my mother and I scrambled out of our Section housing, and as our belongings, security, and lives went up in fire and smoke, a fireman asked if we needed emergency services. In shock, we told him yes, and so began my Alice in Wonderland experience with “emergency housing services.” The Red Cross secured emergency housing for the weekend and gave us a $95 debit card for food, but I wondered, what happens Monday? I am my mother’s caregiver; she is elderly, disabled, and has diabetes, a heart condition, and a colostomy bag that I change biweekly. Her income consists of SSI, and mine of unemployment and part-time work as her in-home supportive services caregiver. The city’s Housing Authority (HACSB) — which works with Community Housing Corp., the owner of our building — had a partner nonprofit counseling agency meet with us, but the counselor said it could take from a couple of months to a couple of years to place us. We were sent to gosection8.com to look for apartments or homes. Well, no landlord accepts Section 8 in Santa Barbara. Those very few who do are already full. Peoples’ Self-Help Housing, which also partners with HACSB, had a one- to three-year waiting list. This nonprofit receives grant monies, yet it charges $20 per application and runs credit checks on low-income people. It had no emergency housing-assistance services for my mother and me, even though it and HACSB have a joint low-income property in which they could’ve housed us. When I contacted the Red Cross for help, they sent us to Casa Esperanza for housing services, but Casa also has a waiting list. So does Salvation Army’s Hospitality House, and usually these services are for single adults, not for an adult male who is the caregiver for his disabled and senior-citizen mother. Luckily, with the help of my brother and friends, we found a place in Lompoc. None of the housing services in Santa Barbara have “Emergency Housing” programs at all. What they have are outdated lists, waiting lists, and time-consuming procedures and protocols. Just as The Santa Barbara Independent reported that Lompoc Housing and Community Development is under investigation [Cover Story,“Stupid, Inept, or Corrupt?” 2/9/12, independent.com/lompochousing], I think the feds would do well to audit all nonprofit agen cies that also work with the county and other interlock-
ing agencies funded by federal grants. The services these grant monies are supposed to be funding aren’t being given to the communities that need them. Where is this money going? And while this impropriety is ongoing, people remain homeless and destitute, and the social services arena continues to be infested with corruption. This is why the homeless, low-income, and poverty-stricken communities of Santa Barbara never seem to get better. We’re not allowed to. We are being victimized by the very agencies receiving federal grants to help us.
AFRICAN ELEMENTAL STONE & SHELL
— Alberto J. Kennedy, Lompoc
“You Are The Gift”
‘Party To’ U
DIVINATION WORKSHOP
F
ollowing Tyler Hayden’s news article “UCSB Ranked # Party School in Country” [8/6/13, inde pendent.com/ucsbnumbertwo], several of my friends and I responded to The Princeton Review as follows: We firmly believe this designation to be a disservice to our students, alumni, and faculty. We should be number one. We are surrounded by ocean and beach on three sides; our campus more closely resembles a five-star resort than the No. research university in the world (Leiden, 2013). So do we party? Absolutely! However, to us, “party” does not always consist of keg stands and burning couches. Partying can mean celebratory dance steps after acing an exam or a toast with friends over a glass of carrot juice from the Isla Vista Co-op. You should’ve named us the “party to” school. We are party to having five professors with Nobel prizes teaching and inspiring students on our campus. We are party to being one of the top-10 “coolest schools” in the nation as ranked by Sierra Magazine in 2013. We are party to being a public university with 46.8 percent of our classes housing 20 students or fewer. We are party to attending the 35th top university in the world (Times Higher Education, 2012). So do we party? Hell yes we do. We party because we are an institution full of high achievers, and there’s always something to celebrate about at UCSB. — Charlotte A. Rushforth, UCSB, Class of 2014
For the Record
¶ Though some report 650,000 metric tons of lead from bullets in the environment,as did theAngry Poodle Barbecue last week [“This Dog Don’t Hunt, 8/22/13, independent .com/dogdonthunt], the USGS has concluded a more accurate number is almost 60,000 MT.
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