Santa Ynez Valley Senior Citizens Foundation

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The Thrift Store Annex Story

The Santa Ynez Valley Senior Citizens Foundation has always had two major goals, self sufficiency and affordable senior housing, both of which seemed to be just beyond our financial capability. In order to address the self sufficiency issue, the Foundation was planning to expand the existing Senior Thrift Store at Hwy 246 and Central ave, but it would have meant the distruction of the beautiful garden and no one wanted to see that happen. Then one day a staff member came across an ad in the paper indicating that the property on first street which had a thrift store already on it, was for sale.

Of course, a small community based nonprofit like the Santa Ynez Valley Senior Citizens Foundation rarely breaks even at the end of the year, but when we realized that there were two vacant lots included in the sale, we began to think affordable senior housing possibilities and our attitude became one of nothing ventured nothing gained. So we made an offer and put down a deposit and began to explore possibilities.

One possibility was in the fact that the City of Buellton had to meet a certain affordable housing criteria for federal funding and we were thinking partnership or whatever. Then the Santa Barbara Housing Authority came into the picture and suddenly things were looking possible. After all parties thought it over, it became clear that the affordable senior housing wasn't going to happen at this time, so we began looking at ways that we might be able to purchase the property for future development.

We discovered that the seller shared our vision for affordable housing and was willing to work with us through some creative financing options and we are hoping that members of the community with discretionary income will also get interested and involved.

The City of Buellton has had mixed experiences with developers, that is; some developments turned out good and some not so good. This time however the developer is a nonprofit organization that has been serving the community for the last 30 years, there is no question of our commitment or the level of our caring and concern. This one is for the community and by the community, and that means the citizens of the community. This dream won't happen without the support of the people who, in the end, hold the real power in any community.