Cottage Health to offer new workforce housing starting 2029
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - Cottage Health has announced plans to offer 204 new homes in the Santa Barbara area to its employees to purchase at below-market prices starting in 2029.
Two locations are slated for these new homes.
Cottage plans to move its Rehabilitation Hospital at 2415 De la Vina Street to the Goleta Valley Cottage campus to create 44 new homes with parking. Cottage had already planned to move the Rehabilitation Hospital to the Goleta campus prior to the workforce housing announcement according to Cristina Cortez, a spokesperson for Cottage Health. The move is expected to be completed by the beginning of 2027.
The second location is near Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital on South Patterson Avenue. A new housing project is already planned at this site and Cottage has entered an agreement to acquire 160 of those units for its employees.
Construction at both locations is planned to begin in 2028, with the first homes becoming available in 2029.
In 2003, Cottage Health purchased St. Francis Medical Center and built 81 affordable homes. To date, the Bella Riviera location has helped 145 healthcare professionals secure housing in the area according to Cortez.
Units at Bella Riviera were initially sold to Cottage employees through a lottery system and then offered on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Currently 84 employees are on the wait list for one of the homes at Bella Riviera.
