March 15, 2025
Santa Barbara County staff and nonprofit partners homed in on the link between housing insecurity and homelessness at Solvang’s community event on Wednesday. The event came as part of a partnership between Supervisor Joan Hartmann’s office, Santa Barbara County, the City of Solvang, and the Santa Barbara Alliance for Community Transformation, an organization that works to abolish homelessness.
Randy Murphy, Solvang’s city manager, opened the discussion by telling his own story — how about a decade ago, he experienced housing insecurity.
“If it can happen to me, then it can happen to anyone,” he said. “I had a good-paying job, and then I didn’t. I had a family, and then I didn’t. I had no income, and if it weren’t for the largess of some friends and some other family, I very easily could have been on the street.”