Peoples' Self-Help Housing

Victoria a place to call home

11/30/04| By June Rich | News-Press Correspondent

Mike Eliason | News-Press | Residents at the Victoria Hotel enjoy the free continental breakfast that is offered on weekdays - one of the programs initiated by Peoples' Self Help Housing

Linda Lujan used to pack avocados, but she wrecked her back on the assembly line years ago. Now, she lives on her disability check, $882 per month.

That's a tall order in Santa Barbara, even for those lucky enough to live at the Victoria Hotel. The Victoria offers rooms for less than $500 a month, depending on one's income.

"Usually in the third week (the money is) gone," said Ms. Lujan, a soft-spoken 54-year-old with plump cheeks and a quiet smile. "I have family in town, so I hope to get invited over for dinners, or I go to the Unity Shoppe when they put out food."

About two years ago, the hotel started putting out a free continental breakfast on weekdays, one of the many ambitious programs initiated by Peoples' Self Help Housing, which bought and renovated the run-down property at 24 E. Victoria St. in 1999.

The trouble is that tenants still go looking for lunch and dinner elsewhere, often at nearby fast food restaurants, a solution that is neither cheap nor healthy. Peoples' Self Help would like to start serving dinner regularly, even if that means only two nights a week.

Though the organization often is able to win grants and loans for big projects, such as the purchase of the Victoria itself, individual donations often make all the "extra" support services—such as meal programs—a reality.

"In most cases, these are people who have worked all their lives and, through no fault of their own, have become disabled or are elderly and can barely get by on their monthly check," said Jeanette Duncan, the group's executive director.

Ms. Duncan said she also hopes to collect enough donations this holiday season to give each resident a Christmas package, even something small such as hand lotion.

There aren't a lot of places like the Victoria anymore.

In the 1980s, there were seven privately owned residential hotels with more than 600 rooms. But those rooms have steadily disappeared, largely because of a state requirement to retrofit those buildings to withstand earthquakes.

In all, more than 460 residential hotel rooms have been lost, according to a report by the city of Santa Barbara. About 140 rooms remain at the Faulding Hotel, the Hotel de Riviera for veterans, and the Victoria Hotel.

At the Victoria, seven of the 28 rooms have private bathrooms. Communal showers serve the rest. Now there's a social worker who connects residents to health and financial resources, and who screens future tenants of the hotel.

No alcohol, drugs or smoking are allowed on premises, a dramatic turnaround for a property that over the years became a place where the old, the sick or those with alcohol problems were abandoned.

As part of the renovation, two of the original rooms were converted to a kitchen and dining room where the breakfast is served. Tenants can store food in the refrigerator and a personal food locker, but there isn't enough room for everyone to stock food adequate to prepare all one's meals.

On breakfast days, residents choose from two cereals, milk, juice, toast and occasionally something hot such as eggs or sausages.

That's like a dream come true to those who depend on it.

"It's saved me a lot of money," said Bill Hess, a former bookkeeper who has lodged at the hotel since 1997. "If they had a dinner program, that would really help us out."