It’s a way to reuse empty commercial space in downtown Santa Barbara, to address the need for affordable housing.
The 14 new apartments opened on Friday.
Rob Fredericks, the CEO of the Housing Authority of the City of Santa Barbara, says addressing the need for affordable housing benefits everyone in the community.
"Housing in Santa Barbara is really costly. It's one of the least affordable places actually in the world, said Fredricks.
"We're losing workforce to other communities because of that. So creating workforce housing in the downtown corridor is something that's very rare. And we've been able to do this and show it off as a model," he told KCLU.
Over 100 applications have been received and new residents will be moving into their studios in December.
