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W E DN E S DAY, F E BRUA RY 2 4 , 2 0 21
Supervisors advance plan to address homelessness
SB elementary schools to reopen next week By ANNELISE HANSHAW NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
The Santa Barbara Unified School District board approved the reopening of elementary school campuses during its meeting Tuesday evening. Students will begin a hybrid learning schedule Monday. The state approved Santa Barbara County schools for reopening earlier Tuesday. Schools will welcome students in phases starting with the youngest grades. The district sent a notice to secondary-school teachers Tuesday to return to campus
RAFAEL MALDONADO / NEWS-PRESS
The Board of Supervisors discussed the need to provide alternative housing for homeless individuals living in encampments during their meeting Tuesday. The supervisors voted to adopt the Phase II Community Action Plan to Assess Homelessness, which sets targeted goals for addressing homelessness in the county. Shown here is an encampment at Pershing Park in Santa Barbara.
By MADISON HIRNEISEN NEWS-PRESS CORRESPONDENT
Santa Barbara County officials are moving forward with their plan to address homelessness. During a special meeting of the Board of Supervisors Tuesday, officials motioned to approve the adoption of a Phase II Community Action Plan to Assess Homelessness, which establishes targeted goals and strategies for ending homelessness in Santa Barbara County. The Phase II plan identifies key actions to address homelessness in the county through five strategies, which includes increasing access to safe and affordable housing, delivering tailored supportive services, building a collective action plan, strengthening support systems and building provider capacity to address the needs of specific populations. The plan sets targeted goals for ending homelessness among specific populations, like homeless youth, veterans and families. By December 2021, Community Services is aiming to end homelessness among veterans. In a 100-day challenge to end veteran homelessness, officials were able to permanently house 46 of the 210 homeless veterans in Santa Barbara County. “Ending homelessness among veterans is an achievable, system-level goal,” Dinah Lockhart,
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deputy director of housing and community development division, said Tuesday. She noted that though the department may have been shy of the 100-day goal to house 75 veterans, officials are “optimistic they will reach that goal even if it takes longer than 100 days.” The adoption of the Phase II plan comes at a time when the population of unsheltered persons is rising in Santa Barbara County. This, in part, is due to a decrease in shelter capacity during the pandemic, Kimberlee Albers, homeless assistant program manager for the county’s Community Services Department said Tuesday. In order to comply with social distancing and COVID-19 restrictions, many shelters in the area were forced to decrease capacity to provide adequate space for congregants to stay apart. The county will usually conduct a Point-inTime count annually, but due to the pandemic, the Community Services Department did not conduct a physical count this year. Instead, the county used data systems and previous point in time counts to estimate the population of unsheltered persons, which they determined is around 1,662 individuals. The county was able to conduct a count of sheltered peoples in January, and Ms. Albers said about 407 individuals were sheltered in long-term facilities, while 126 were being housed in temporary shelters. A number of unsheltered individuals in the
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Santa Barbara City Council extends COVID-19 relief City’s emergency ordinance extended for additional year By GRAYCE MCCORMICK NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
The Santa Barbara City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to extend the city’s emergency ordinance related to the COVID-19 pandemic by one year to March 8, 2022. City staff will now work to negotiate with city tenants who have proven financial hardship and an inability to meet the financial obligations of their lease, and accept rent by a hold-over tenant and allow continuation of tenancy on a month-to-month basis for the repayment of deferred rent. Staff originally recommended extending the emergency ordinance to Sept. 8, 2021, but council members requested a calendar year in order to be prepared for extended health orders and to give local businesses peace of mind.
“I think it does help now that we do have some parklet guidelines and people are making investments. That does give some security in that,” Council member Kristen Sneddon said. Council member Eric Friedman echoed support of the year extension as well. “I think we’d probably end up getting there anyways,” he said. “It gives us certainty to businesses and tenants and property owners out there to negotiate that.” In addition to extending the ordinance, the council also removed the 5% cap originally included in the amended ordinance recommended by staff, which said that amendments to a lease may not result in a cumulative reduction in the value of the lease to the city of more than 5% over the Please see council on A4
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ins id e Classified............... B4 Life..................... B1-2
county live in encampments under bridges, near creeks or outside of neighborhoods. The large population of encamped individuals is an area of concern for all districts, the supervisors said Tuesday. “It baffles me that we allow this kind of suffering so close to where we sleep at night,” said Bob Nelson, board chair and 4th District supervisor. One of the main roadblocks to ending homelessness in the county is the lack of affordable housing currently available, officials said. According to Ms. Lockhart, “there is not currently enough affordable and permanent supportive housing to meet the need to permanently address homelessness.” Despite the increase in temporary beds and permanent residences in the past 10 years, there is just not enough available to meet the current need, Ms. Lockhart said. In response to this, the supervisors said Tuesday they would begin to search for places in their respective districts where additional housing can be built in the coming months and years to address the shortage. First District Supervisor Das Williams said his area already has two sites mapped out. “Let’s use them,” he said. Though building more housing would provide a solution to part of the homelessness issue in the county, Public Defender Tracy Please see HOMELESS on A4
March 9 in preparation for inperson learning. Junior high and high schools may reopen when the case rate declines to seven daily cases per 100,000 people. As of Tuesday, the county’s adjusted case rate was 16.9 per 100,000. Secondary-school families will confirm their choice of in-person or distance learning this week. In the hybrid schedule, half of the students will attend campus Monday and Thursday while the other half is in-person Tuesday and Friday. “There will be staggered arrivals and departures but as Please see SCHOOLs on A2
Obituaries............. A4 Sudoku................. B3 Weather................ A4
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Saturday’s SUPER LOTTO: 2-5-8-21-45 Meganumber: 11
Tuesday’s DAILY 4: 0-2-4-9
Tuesday’s MEGA MILLIONS: 5-7-9-20-57 Meganumber: 15
Tuesday’s FANTASY 5: 9-13-16-21-36
Tuesday’s DAILY DERBY: 12-10-07 Time: 1:43.96
Saturday’s POWERBALL: 4-8-22-32-58 Meganumber: 4
Tuesday’s DAILY 3: 3-8-3 / Sunday’s Midday 4-7-9
PHORUM 2021
PERSPECTIVES IN HEALTHCARE
See How Music Upstages Alzheimer’s in Glen Campbell’s Unforgettable Tour I’LL BE ME
Thursday, MARCH 4 at the west wind drive-in Gates open at 5:45 PM–Film begins at 6:15 PM
Kim Campbell
Dr. Kenneth S. Kosik
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Dr. Michael Bordofsky
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