Cottage Health to offer homes to employees at below-market rates

SANTA BARBARA, Calif.—Trisha Purkey is a mom of four and a registered nurse who tends to patients in critical conditions. 
 
She says her 45 minute commute is mentally exhausting, especially when it’s added to her 12 hour work day.
 
“ Three 12 hour shifts can be a lot. And it is very stressful. And it's very like you said, we are we are giving our best to our patients and their families. We have to be we have to be on top of everything. We have to be able to provide, you know, emotional support for families in these really hard situations,” said Cottage Health Registered Nurse Trisha Purkey.

Purkey’s story is part of a growing problem of a lack of affordable housing in Santa Barbara. 
 
“About 34% of our employees commute from either Ventura County or from North Santa Barbara County or San Luis Obispo County. So about a little over a third of our workforce commutes every single day. And as we know, that commute is very, very challenging,” said Cottage Health President and CEO Ron Werft.

Cottage Health is addressing this problem by expanding its workforce housing options.
 
Forty-four homes at the site of Cottage Rehab Hospital on De la Vina, and 160 along South Patterson Avenue near Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital. 
 
They plan to offer these homes to employees at below-market rates.
 
“It just would still free up more time and I may be able to split my shifts up where I'm not doing them all at once as well. So I think it's great,” said Purkey.
 
Cottage Health says this will help them recruit and retain employees. 
  
“We have staff who are on call and so it's really not realistic for them to live far away and be on call. 24 seven. And so just to have more and more particularly of our clinical staff living in this area is a real advantage,” said Werft.
 
Cottage Health already has programs in place for employees, including a shuttle service and 81 homes at the Bella Riviera on Santa Barbara's upper Eastside.