The Faulkner Gallery at the Santa Barbara Central Library was filled Wednesday with city residents sharing stories of renting nightmares. The evening event, hosted by the Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy (CAUSE), the Santa Barbara Rental Housing Roundtable, and the Santa Barbara Central Library, focused on tenants’ rights and state rent control legislation, and it offered a space for residents to express their needs and concerns.
A group of seven volunteers donning bright-blue CAUSE shirts shared their stories. A number of them were from Beachwalk Townhomes , formerly Voluntario Apartments, where rents have increased from $1,650 to $2,495 in less than a year and living conditions are not humane, the women said. “There are rats, cockroaches, bedbugs, and there are many maintenance problems,” they said.
Jenny Juarez, a single mother of three ― ages 1, 3, and 5 ― told of her youngest being covered in bug bites. “We threw away the beds, mattresses, her crib; we got new furniture, but nothing changed,” she said, her voice cracking. “I know it’s the carpet, but they still have not changed it,” she said of the management. “They won’t fix the problems.”
