World Habitat Day: What will you build?

Every year the UN designates the first Monday in October as "World Habitat Day". The purpose being to call attention to the current global state of the human habitat and advocate for adequate housing for each and every person. To way to raise awareness, Habitat for Humanity International asked  "What Will You Build?"

In Santa Barbara, we are building four affordable homes for low-income families. These homes will offer four hard-working families with a decent, safe and affordable home to call their own.  In Santa Barbara, many low-income families spend over half their incomes on housing and still live in unconverted garages, many of which don't meet minimum health and safety standards. There is a huge need for affordable and decent housing and because of this Habitat for Humanity of SSBC is dedicated to building affordable homes.

Looking for "A Brush With Kindness"?

We at Habitat for Humanity of SSBC are committed to serving families in need. Recognizing  that the economic downturn has made it difficult for low-income homeowners to make necessary home repairs, we have started a program to address this need. "A Brush With Kindness" provides  home repairs for homeowners that are unable to make them on their own due to physical or financial limitations. The home repairs that ABWK provides consist of exterior painting, landscape clean-up & planting, as well as fence repairs.

If you are a Santa Barbara resident struggling to maintain your home and are interested in learning more about our A Brush With Kindness program contact our office at 805-692-2226.

What are the qualifications to be selected for the program?

To qualify families will need to meet the following criteria:

1. You must own your home and currently live in it.
2. Willing & able to put “Sweat Equity” meaning you will be on site with our volunteers to help.
3. Homeowner must be low-income (see chart for details) 
4. There will be a small no interest repayment to Habitat. Payments will then be used to help another family through our Fund for Humanity. The costs of the project will be supplemented by donations and volunteers
5. Because we can only serve a limited number of families this year we will be selecting the homes with the greatest need within Habitat’s scope of work.

Additional information and eligibility requirements can be found Here.

Day of Caring

On Saturday, September 25th we were excited to welcome volunteers in our ReStore through the United Way's Day of Caring. The Day of Caring was created as a way to promote the spirit and value of volunteering. And if there's one thing we value around here, it is our dedicated volunteers! The Day of Caring volunteers helped with customer service, stocking new inventory, and taking in new donated materials.

It is inspiring to see the continued support of so many volunteers. We have one crew of volunteers that we affectionately call the "The Thursday Crew" because we can rely on their commitment each and every week.  Our volunteers motivate us to work harder and allows us to provide more affordable, decent, and sustainable housing for hardworking families. 

If you're looking for a  way to give back to the community, we invite you to volunteer with us. Please check out our volunteer calendar.

Meet the Escamilla Family

Partner Family profile: The Escamilla Family

Patty and Gabriel are the parents of three adorable children: Gabriel Jr., 7, and his twin sisters, Andrea and Liliana, age 5. All five currently live in a two room, 800 square foot, mobile home, that they share with Patty's parents.  It is difficult having 7 people in one mobile home, but the Escamilla's were unable to find a safe, affordable two-bedroom apartment to raise their 3 young children: Gabriel Jr., 7, and his twin sisters, Andrea and Liliana 5.

Gabriel works as a finish carpenter in town and Patty is currently a full-time mom to her three young children, and finishing her nursing degree at Santa Barbara City College. 

The Escamillas are looking forward to providing a stable, affordable home for their children. The opportunity for homeownership would not be possible without Habitat for Humanity of Southern Santa Barbara County.

Construction Update on San Pascual Street

Thanks to our wonderful individual volunteers and groups from Bank of America, the Interfaith Community, and Faith Lutheran Church we are making great progress at the San Pascual construction site.

We are pleased to share that the San Pascual affordable housing project is now 3/4 of the way done. Drywall was installed in September and the trenching for the sewer and water connections is almost complete. Painting and finish carpentry will start within the next week or two.