Campaign Aims to Raise $50,000 to Help Furnish and Equip 31 Studio Units Earmarked for Formerly Homeless and Chronically Homeless People
By Christina McDermott
Tue Mar 03, 2026 | 3:11pm
The studio units at 3055 De la Vina Street will provide a home for chronically homeless and formerly homeless folks. | Credit: Housing Authority of the City of Santa Barbara
This article was underwritten in part by the Mickey Flacks Journalism Fund for Social Justice, a proud, innovative supporter of local news. To make a contribution go to sbcan.org/journalism_fund.
Moving can be expensive; the cost of furniture and household goods — everything from beds and bedding to pots and pans for cooking — add up. That’s no different for affordable housing units.
The Housing Authority of the City of Santa Barbara announced its “Adopt a Home” campaign in partnership with nonprofit partner 2nd Story Associates on Monday. The goal? Raise $50,000 to help prepare 31 studio units at 3055 De la Vina Street. The units will provide a home for chronically homeless and formerly homeless folks.
People can purchase furniture and household goods from an Amazon wish list provided by the housing authority, or make a donation to the campaign’s general fund. Needed items include everything from lamps and lightbulbs to paper towels to dressers for clothing.
Rob Fredericks, the Housing Authority’s executive director and CEO, said that the campaign provides an opportunity for community members to directly help their most vulnerable neighbors.
“By helping us furnish these studios, our supporters are doing more than donating. They are helping us turn this former hotel into a true home for those who have been without one for far too long,” Fredericks said.
The Housing Authority bought 3055 De la Vina Street, a former Quality Inn, in March 2024. In November 2025, the Housing Authority started to convert the motel rooms to studio apartment units with kitchenettes. The studio apartments will take Section 8 vouchers. Those are vouchers awarded to people living at 30 percent of the area’s median income, approximately $29,300 a year or less for a single person in Santa Barbara. The project is slated to open in June 2026.
You can find the Amazon wish lists for the studios, the community room in the apartment building and the building’s outdoor communal areas, as well as the housing authority’s general fund campaign, hyperlinked in this sentence.