The City of Goleta took additional steps at the December 10, 2020, Special City Council meeting to provide COVID-19 relief in light of the current Regional Stay-at-Home Order (RSAHO) issued by the State of California, which mandated the closure of many businesses and limited the operation of others.

Mayor Paula Perotte said, “The City is very concerned about the likely detrimental impacts on our local businesses and residents as a result of the current Regional Stay-at-Home Order that went into effect earlier this week. It is our belief that this funding, combined with working with our talented partner organizations, will help provide immediate assistance during this public health and economic crisis.”

The City’s Director of Neighborhood Services and Public Safety, Vyto Adomaitis, said, “The City continues to move quickly to deal with everchanging conditions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. This is another example of that responsiveness which can only be accomplished with determined leadership, dedicated staff, and collaborating with our partners to deliver services and funding to our community.”

The Goleta City Council took the following actions:

• City Council authorized the City Manager to retain the services of a contract emergency housing and homeless services coordinator to help manage an emergency rental assistance program and work with various homeless service providers to identify housing options for the homeless.
• Appropriated $200,000 from the General Fund unassigned fund balance to be set aside for immediate COVID-19 relief efforts.
• Of those funds, $100,000 was allocated to the Santa Barbara Foundation for small business assistance grants, $50,000 was allocated to the United Way of Santa Barbara County for their Low-Income Individual Assistance Program, and $50,000 was earmarked for emergency rental assistance in partnership with the Housing Authority of the County of Santa Barbara. This program will assist tenants who earn up to 80 percent of the area median income with grants up to $5,000 or up to three month’s rent, whichever is less.

The City is also urging the community to support Goleta businesses and restaurants by shopping and dining locally with our #GoodLandGoodShopping and #GoletaToGo campaigns.