Crisis averted Creative solutions put housing within reach

WORDS BY AMY MARIE OROZCO • PHOTOS BY INGRID BOSTROM

Carpinteria’s scariest story isn’t a Halloween tale. It’s a year-round fright fest keeping residents terrified that they may be the next victim. The perpetrator? An out-of-control housing market. How do those considered moderate income or middle class manage in Carpinteria? With skyrocketing rents and home prices, it’s a scary situation requiring creative and stylish solutions.

TERESA & BRIAN ALVAREZ

Here’s how Teresa and Brian Alvarez were able to join the ranks of homeownership: They won the lottery. A City of Carpinteria Housing Lottery, which entitled them to a $471,000 mortgage on a newly constructed threebedroom, just under 2,000-square-foot, two-story home with a two-car garage and a roomy backyard. They had heard about the program through work and the city, but a piece in the Coastal View News gave them the info they needed to apply. At that point, they were paying $1,725 a month for a two-bedroom apartment on Sandyland, where they’d lived for five years. The parents of one child with another on the way weren’t sure if they were ready to buy but decided to throw their names in the hat.

To be eligible for the first-round lottery draw, they needed to meet two of the three mandated preference points: live in Carpinteria—check; be part of the critical workforce (both are educators)—check; and work in Carpinteria—check! There were 45 applicants with two preference points and 73 applicants who met one of the three preference points as backup.

They separately watched the lottery, via Zoom, held at the regularly scheduled City Council meeting on December 10, 2020. Teresa was at home with son Nico and newborn Enzo; Brian was at work at Santa Barbara High School.

After watching then-mayor Wade Nomura pull a name from a bingo-like spinner and hearing their name called, Brian recalls running and yelling in jubilation around the Santa Barbara High’s athletic facilities. And running and yelling some more.

About four months later, they closed escrow and picked up their new keys on April 1, 2021.

“I seriously manifested it,” says Teresa. “Every night I sat with my son saying ‘we are homeowners,’ ‘we have a three-bedroom home.’” Vision boards were created to help the energy build.

Manifestation aside, the Alvarezes consider themselves “so lucky.” They love having family so close and being able to host Christmas the last two years. “I never thought we’d own a home here,” Brian says.

BARBARA & JOHN SCOTT

A serious illness with an extended stay in the hospital is the main reason Barbara and John Scott moved from their two-story Palm Loft work/live space. The stairs to the second-floor living area had become impossible for Barbara.

After house-hunting from San Diego to Bellingham, Washington, the couple, Newport Beach transplants, decided they wanted to stay in Carpinteria, finding it welcoming to seniors and wanting to keep the sense of community they already felt. “This is the most unique beach town (we’ve seen) in all of our 85 years,” says John, a potter of 62 years. “There’s a wonder to living in Carpinteria.”

Well, as everyone knows, love doesn’t pay the bills. Or the mortgage.

Still, if there’s a will, there’s a way.

After considering all aspects of housing options, the Scotts decided on the mobile home route. Not just any mobile home would do. Having a view was important after losing the one at Palm Lofts, as were a sense of containment and lots of natural light. Rancho Granada filled the bill, and in 2018 they moved to the edge of the park overlooking an avocado field.

Constructed in 1972, the home is well built and simple. “We didn’t have to juggle with space. It was easy to clean up,” says John. Believing a mobile home doesn’t have to be a cave, they took down all the heavy drapery, used bright white paint throughout, and got rid of the kelly green carpet, for starters.

Trading 600 square feet at $2,500-a-month rent for a $265,000 mortgage and 1,500-square feet made economic sense to them. Even with the $500-ish monthly space rent that includes water and trash, along with the $96 annual registration fee to the DMV because the home is on wheels, the numbers added up. As did the no property tax.

“If we’re really careful, we’d be able to live off our Social Security,” says Barbara.

They miss the camaraderie of artists the Palm Lofts provides along with the diversity of personalities and ages, but Rancho Granada makes up for it in other ways. “The sound of children is a joy, and the people who live here are happy to be here,” says John.

BONNIE & BRYON COLLETT

In the case of Bonnie and Bryon Collett, it was more about creating a senior citizen compound with longtime friends Gale and Steve Abram, who have a cottage in their Carpinteria backyard, than a scramble to find housing in Carpinteria.

The Colletts first visited the Abrams in Carpinteria about 25 years ago when Bonnie lightheartedly said, “Now I know when I retire where I’ll live.” Years later, her offhand comment turned into reality — necessitated by the carnage of a collapsed economy and the sale of a business that did not go as anticipated.

“We couldn’t afford to stay in Seattle and be retired,” Byron explains.

A suitable agreement between the two couples for the senior citizen compound was established. The new tenants were included in the renovation of their new home and given an appliance allowance. Bonnie remembers the dishwasher installer commenting, “I never put a Miele in a rental before.”

In September 2015, they moved into their one-bedroom, one-bathroom, kitchen and living area, 540-square-foot home with only a bed, table, six folding chairs, TV, and record cabinet. Thanks to knocking out a wall, closing off one of the two nearly side-by-side “front doors,” and literally using every speck of space to its fullest, the home feels much bigger.

Small spaces require compromises and ingenuity, say an ottoman serving as the linen closet, a tailored desk and closet, or an arrangement where friends and neighbors host overnight guests and receive dog-sitting in return.

Small spaces also highlight priorities. For the Colletts, that’s music and food. Custom-made record cabinets punctuate the home, and a music system that plays vinyl and CDs is the focal point of the living room. Bigger than the living area, the kitchen-dining area has large wire shelving from a restaurant supply store that covers a wall and one front door, a drop-leaf table that can disappear in the kitchen island, and don’t forget the Miele. Additionally, there are pantry cabinets on the outside decks.

Says Bonnie, “We’ve invested ourselves in this place.” An investment whose interest is compounded. 