Quick Take
Santa Cruz County is doing a good job of building rental units, but it’s not building enough affordable homes for people to buy, writes Shiri Gradek, a serial renter who pays 55% of her salary to rent. She wants this to change. Prioritizing only rentals, she says, doesn’t build equity or wealth for a community. It feeds landlords and developers and contributes to the dismantling of the middle class.
Have something to say? Lookout welcomes letters to the editor, within our policies, from readers. Guidelines here.
Please stop telling people that skipping out on avocado toast and cappuccinos will help them save for a house in Santa Cruz.
California has a complex housing crisis and Santa Cruz is at the center. Soaring rents and astronomical home prices have priced out countless residents, forcing them to relocate or endure increasingly cramped living situations. The state housing mandates have created a recent surge in new housing construction for both market and below-market rates, which many, including me, celebrate.
However, a closer look reveals a troubling trend: An overwhelming majority of these new affordable units are rentals, not units for purchase.
While rentals offer much-needed housing, they do little to address the root of the problem: the unattainability of long-term homeownership for many Californians.
Building wealth through homeownership has long been a cornerstone of the American Dream and a pathway to creating a financial legacy for your kids, but this dream is slipping further out of reach with each passing year. Renting, while necessary, does not contribute to building equity and wealth for a community.
Instead, its flow allows funding to go directly to a small group of individuals: landlords and developers. The decreasing access to homeownership only furthers the divide between economic classes and will eventually, among other reasons, wipe out the middle class.
It’s time for a new priority in California’s long-term housing goals.
State and local governments must prioritize housing developments that offer more opportunities for below-market-rate units for purchase. This should continue alongside the many below-market-rate rentals currently emerging.
Voter-approved below-market-rate homeownership programs like the county’s Measure J, approved in 1978, and the city of Santa Cruz’s Measure O, approved in 1979, are great models, but even those units are few, seldom for sale and many are age-restrictive.
Under measures J and O, moderate-income households can purchase homes at below-market rates. These homes have affordability restrictions which set minimum and maximum sales prices, ensuring future affordability. While they may not be the golden goose of an investment, they provide a solid opportunity to build equity and enjoy the many benefits of homeownership.
According to the County of Santa Cruz Measure J website, there are 500 units within the county (excluding the city of Santa Cruz) under the Measure J affordability program, but only 27 were available for purchase since January 2023. Compare that roughly to the 2,000 market-rate homes sold for that same period.
The City of Santa Cruz Measure O program numbers are equally unimpressive.
According to the City of Santa Cruz housing team, out of the 295 homes that sold in the city of Santa Cruz in the past 20 months, only seven were Measure O.
While low-income rental development plans are essential, they should not come at the expense of providing pathways to affordable homeownership. Incorporating a mix of affordable rental and ownership units into new developments is a step in the right direction.
Additionally, government agencies should partner with developers and nonprofits to increase affordable housing options and support programs specifically for first-time homebuyers. If the development path is not sustainable for the County of Santa Cruz to pursue, investing in a wide-scale down payment assistance program could also be a worthwhile solution.
The housing crisis is a complex issue that will always require a multifaceted approach. However, increasing the availability of affordable homeownership opportunities is a vital step toward creating a more equitable and sustainable future for Santa Cruz and all Californians.
And yes, I also happen to have my real estate license in addition to my primary job, but even with my side hustle, it’s not enough to purchase a home for me and my kids.
Trust me. I’ve tried. I’ve saved, advanced in my career and made several frugal lifestyle choices.
This July, a two-bedroom Measure O home came up for sale and the seller received 11 offers, mine included. The strict terms of Measure O and Measure J make it virtually impossible to stand out as a buyer. Cap on max purchase price and paying seller fees is not an option. When I inquired how the decision-making would happen, the listing agent jokingly said, “We’ll just put all the offers on the wall and throw a dart.”
Disheartening for sure.
I currently rent a two-bedroom condo near downtown that’s 55% of my gross salary, but I feel lucky to live and work in this community that I’ve called home for over two decades. I hope one day I’ll secure my slice of the homeownership pie and that government leaders prioritize this possibility for all socioeconomic statuses.
In the meantime, if you see me drinking a cappuccino at Abbott Square, please don’t think I’ve given up on my dream of homeownership.
Shiri Gradek is a longtime Santa Cruz resident and renter. She does marketing for the downtown district and slings real estate on the side to afford living in Santa Cruz with her two kids and to support her addiction to cappuccinos.