Peoples' Self-Help Housing

Doors will now open a bit wider

12/12/04 | By June Rich | News-Press Correspondent

Rafael Maldonado | News-Press | Hector Ibarra, who is paraplegic and has cerebral palsy, moved into a disabled-accessible apartment in Goleta in 1999 with his mother, Martha, left, and sister, Vesna. Peoples' Self-Help Housing owns and runs the Storke Ranch development.

In her old apartment, Martha Ibarra would somehow lift her adult son from his wheelchair and into the bathtub, then cradle him during his nightly bath.

Getting out was even trickier because Hector Ibarra, a paraplegic, weighs about 100 pounds, plus mother and son both would be soaking wet.

The family lived among towers of boxes, which barely allowed Mr. Ibarra's wheelchair passage, because there was no storage space. Mother and son slept in the bedroom—the bed took up the entire room—and Mr. Ibarra's sister, Vesna, slept on the living room floor while attending UCSB to study biology.

"Emotionally, it took a toll," Vesna Ibarra said, adding that even with such a small apartment they barely scraped by. "My mom has diabetes, and when she was ill, she wouldn't go the emergency room. She wouldn't buy medicine either."

But, in 1999, the family's luck turned around.

They got into a new apartment complex in Goleta, part of the Storke Ranch development near the UCSB campus.

The apartments, which feel more like condominiums, are owned and run by Peoples' Self-Help Housing and are rented to people whose incomes range from $790 to $1,600 per month.

Rentals run from $393 to $936, though the best part of the deal isn't the cost, at least for the Ibarras.

Four of the places are designed for those with disabilities.

The bathroom, like every room, has extra-wide doors to accommodate a wheelchair. A fold-down chair hangs from the shower wall for Mr. Ibarra, now 24, to take his bath.

Closets hold cases of medical supplies that Mr. Ibarra needs, and there is plenty of space in the living room and kitchen to get around.

Then there's the patio.

Before, Mr. Ibarra, who has cerebral palsy, was stuck inside all the time and looked out the window at a parking lot.

Now, he sits on the patio, listens to the birds and watches children play at the day care center next door.

"When we first got here, he couldn't sleep because he was so excited," said Vesna Ibarra, who now works for the Santa Barbara County Vector Control District. She described her brother's reaction to the place as "pure joy."

Peoples' Self-Help first became involved in housing for people who are disabled about 15 years ago when it built its first Valentine Court complex -- there are two now -- in Santa Maria, a site with 11 of its 63 units dedicated to residents who are disabled.

Unlike some adult homes for the disabled, Peoples' Self-Help tries to integrate disabled citizens into their communities, rather than setting them apart.

Mr. Ibarra, who loves oldies music and soap operas, regularly attends parties at the community room and is a beloved neighbor.

"My kids have learned from living here that everyone is normal," said Martha Santos, manager at the complex and mother of 10-year-old twins and two older teenagers. "No one's black, Asian, disabled. Everyone's treated the same."

Miss Santos said her kids so wanted to communicate with one boy in the complex who is deaf that they bought sign language tapes so they could speak with him.

She said she is constantly raising money to fill in the gaps for those whose rent, low as it is, still eats up most of their paychecks.

In September, she had "back to school" night and put out crayons, rulers, pencils, pens, binders and notebooks, among other school supplies, in the community room. Parents chose five items for each of their children.

"I know a single mom with seven kids," she said. "She can't afford to buy them gifts for Christmas, let alone school supplies. She cried that night."

They also try to do field trips to museums and other fun spots for kids. Special transportation for the disabled, an additional cost, is necessary so everybody can go.

"If people could see their faces," Miss Santos said. "Some of these kids have never even been to a movie. These little things make them so happy."