DignityMoves got at least three ladlesful of love at the Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting and much praise for opening the La Posada tiny-homes village on Santa Barbara County–owned property near the intersection of Modoc Road and Hollister Avenue. In accepting the proclamation, DignityMoves’ Aaron Edelheit turned the tables on the supervisors, praising them for their political leadership, terming it “magic” multiple times.
La Posada — approved, permitted, funded, and built in record time over initial opposition from some nearby neighbors — is now roughly half full (35-40 residents), populated by people who formerly lived in nearby encampments. The other 40 residents will be referred to the site by the county’s Department of Behavioral Wellness.
Unlike the downtown tiny-home village on Santa Barbara Street that opened in August 2022 , there’s been more blowback on La Posada — which means either “hope” or “help” depending on who’s doing the translating. Attorneys for the Committee for Social Justice have opposed the county’s efforts to eliminate — “resolve” being the bureaucratic term of art — the existing encampments, arguing there are not enough spaces to provide shelter for all those displaced. Activists with the committee have objected to the no-friends-allowed-to-hang-out rules that prevail at the DignityMoves sites. People should not give up their rights to assemble as they see fit, they have argued.