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Supporters ask Santa Barbara City Council for 120-day extension of Faro Center funding and lease
Summary
Representatives of SB Act and the Faro Center urged the Santa Barbara City Council during public comment to extend city funding and the center's sublease for 120 days (to Dec. 1, 2025), saying recent changes have improved neighborhood impacts and the program has helped more than 100 people into housing.
Representatives of SB Act and the Faro Center asked the Santa Barbara City Council on May 20 for a 120-day extension of city funding and the center's sublease, saying the center has placed clients into housing and is implementing neighborhood-focused changes.
Beth Collins, speaking for SB Act, told the council that “staff, unfortunately, unilaterally canceled critical funding for the Faro Center as well as its sublease as of May 2025.” She asked the council to “give SB Act and the Faro Center a 120 day extension on both the funding and the sublease.”
Collins said SB Act has assembled “a very experienced team of experts in land use, community relations and security” and has already implemented “a number of changes which have materially improved things in the neighborhood.” She added, “We first tried with staff. We wanted to avoid bringing this issue to council, but unfortunately, we are at an impasse now with staff.”
A second SB Act representative who addressed the council said the Faro Center “has helped over a 100 people move into permanent or semi permanent housing” in its first year and that the program has developed relationships with “over 15 different service provider partners.” That speaker asked the council to extend city support to allow SB Act to “report back to you” after making additional changes.
Speakers said they provided the council with a letter and attached 34 support letters submitted in the preceding days. Collins said the city had asked SB Act to consider shifting from a drop-in model toward appointment or membership models in response to neighbor concerns; SB Act told the council that partners do not support an appointment-only approach and that the group is exploring membership and conduct requirements to reduce impacts.
Collins said she expected council members would hear “from staff concerns about neighbors and liability” during the closed session that followed public comment. Members of the public who had registered to speak via Zoom experienced audio problems before the meeting moved to closed session; council staff said the meeting would return to take remaining online public comment if the technical issues could be fixed.
No formal council action on the request was recorded in the public portion of the meeting. The council convened into closed session on agenda items that included real property negotiations and existing and anticipated litigation under Government Code sections 54956.8 and 54956.9.
