Quick Take
Housing Matters plans to close day services at its Coral Street campus as the organization shifts its focus to shelters and the upcoming opening of a permanent supportive housing project. The news sparked widespread concern among the nonprofit’s employees, with some saying they are worried about what the changes will mean for the area’s homeless community.
Housing Matters, a major homeless services provider in Santa Cruz County, plans to shut down its public day services program next March, a move that some of its own staff members staunchly oppose.
The closure will eliminate the only public, drop-in day services facility in the county, cutting off access to showers, restrooms, mail service and basic amenities for an estimated 50 to 80 unhoused people who use the facility daily. These services have been open during daytime hours and are also available to people who are not staying in a Housing Matters shelter.
The decision, announced to staff on Tuesday, prompted some workers to walk out of the meeting in protest. Two employees told Lookout they worry that vulnerable clients won’t receive adequate notice about the closure, and no alternative services exist in the county.
Housing Matters CEO Phil Kramer said the organization delayed the closure at the Coral Street site in Santa Cruz from February to March 2026 after staff raised concerns about shuttering the program during the winter.
However, he said the organization is beginning to be stretched thin with shelters, day services and soon a permanent supportive housing development: “We’re probably overtaxing our capacity, and have decided to prioritize those programs we know are effective at connecting people with stable housing.”
Both Kramer and Ray Bramson, vice president of the organization’s board of directors, cited the upcoming opening of Harvey West Studios, a 120-unit permanent supportive housing project on the Housing Matters campus, as a key factor in the decision to close the day service. The project is currently under construction on Coral Street. The development is expected to open in summer 2026.
Kramer said the new housing development signals a shift in the operations of the campus, given it has never held permanent housing before, and that in order to prioritize that housing, the organization has decided to focus on providing a stable environment for new tenants.
“It oftentimes does not feel welcoming on Coral Street, given our front-of-campus experience,” said Kramer.
Bramson said that as the property owner of the Harvey West Studios, Housing Matters’ responsibility is to make sure the environment is safe and stable for those who will be living on the campus — something he says the organization learned consulting with other providers that run supportive housing projects. The Coral Street area is frequently populated with many people living in tents, and is often the subject of city encampment sweeps.
“I think what we’ve seen in supportive housing is that when you don’t have the best conditions in the surrounding area, folks have a hard time because they’re coming off the streets and vulnerable staying housed, you see outcomes start to go down,” he said.
The shuttering of day services means a number of the organization’s daily offerings will no longer be available. The Hygiene Bay, which offers showers and restrooms, will close to the the public, as will the Nook, a sort of rest area. They will remain open to shelter guests and residents only.
The organization’s mail room will also not be available for the public, or for Loft shelter and Rebele Family Shelter participants. Those facilities are temporary and emergency shelters located on Coral Street. Housing Matters will also stop offering public access to water, device-charging or a phone, and the welcome area will be open only to residents, shelter guests or those visiting for an appointment.
However, staff at the safety kiosk will continue to assist in emergencies, including dispensing the opioid overdose-reversal drug Narcan, and to help connect people to case management.
Kramer said the decision to end the services has weighed heavily on the staff, and acknowledged that there are currently no other organizations offering similar services in the county. Money and finding a location that surrounding neighborhoods would support are two of the main barriers to establishing day services elsewhere, he said.
“There’s the physical infrastructure that’s needed, and then where you would operate, which has always been a challenge for the community,” he said. “Be it shelter, day services, or safe parking, I think we struggle as a community to find a neighborhood that would support that type of operation.”
Housing Matters has been in touch with the city and county to see if they are able to fill the service gap, said Kramer. Soon, he said, the three parties expect to invite interested community partners to provide similar services. “We’ll try as best we can to support that evolution of the program in another location.”
In an emailed statement Thursday evening, Housing Matters board of directors president Don Lane said the move was “not an easy decision,” but that it is aligned with the organization’s focus on interim shelter and supportive housing, which he said are proven strategies to end homelessness.
“We recognize that this change is significant for our community and the daytime guests we have been serving, and we assure you it was not made lightly,” Lane wrote. “Together, we’re building a future where dignity, respect and housing are at the center of our shared response to homelessness.”
But some Housing Matters staff are not happy with the move, saying they are worried that there is not enough time before the end of services to inform participants, and that many, if not all of them, will have no access to any of the amenities day services offered, since no other organization in the county offers similar services.
Lookout spoke with two Housing Matters employees under the condition of anonymity due to concerns with their job security. At a meeting on Tuesday where staff were informed of the change, the employees say the decision was met with essentially unanimous opposition, with some workers walking out of the meeting.
“I think that the organization is losing sight of its roots,” said one employee. “People don’t come off the streets and go straight into housing, they’re going to need some things first.”
The employee added that staff are also very concerned that there aren’t other day service providers in the county, and that it’s a bad choice to end day services without coordinating with other providers.
“The discussion has been around us supporting other organizations, asking them to open these services up themselves and supporting them,” they said. “I’d argue, if leadership genuinely cared about the population we’re serving, that would have happened first.”
Both employees said administrators didn’t seek input from staff before making the decision, and feel that it has caused a rift between workers and leadership.
One of the biggest concerns, the two employees said, is that there is not enough time to inform program participants of the changes and allow them to make alternate plans.
“It’s much harder to keep track of everything when you’re homeless,” said a different employee. “I expect there’s going to be someone who needs our services that won’t find out we’re closing until several months from now. We cannot stop services that are life and death for vulnerable people without providing an alternative.”
Another major concern among staff is the shuttering of the mail room, which is how hundreds of people get their mail, and that having access to mail is vital for people to work their way out of homelessness.
The employees say ending day services is a significant move away from the organization’s roots as a collective of community organizations and faith-based groups. Housing Matters has been providing services and basic amenities to unhoused individuals since 1986 and was officially registered as a nonprofit organization in 1990. The high number of unhoused people using the day services is an indicator of how successful the organization has been in gaining the trust of its clientele, the employees said.
“From prior experience, I very strongly feel that if there’s an encampment presence outside an organization, that signals that people feel safe there,” said one employee. “I get the concern, but as long as we are meeting a need, people are going to be there.”
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