Santa Cruz County is bucking national trends, significantly reducing homelessness through sustained investment, coordination and compassion, writes Mer Stafford, the chair of the Coalition to End Homelessness in Santa Cruz County. But, with this year’s point-in-time count happening Thursday, those gains are now at risk as state and federal funding for housing and homelessness programs face deep cuts. Losing this support would push hundreds of people back into homelessness and undo years of hard-won progress. Stafford urges residents to contact local and state leaders to protect the funding that’s working.
homelessness
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Sweeping encampments to ‘reduce’ homelessness is a Santa Cruz numbers game — not a solution
Clearing the Coral Street encampment days before the point-in-time count won’t house anyone — it just hides the problem, writes Food Not Bombs founder Keith McHenry. By scattering unhoused people out of sight, the City of Santa Cruz can claim progress while worsening daily survival. McHenry writes that he sees up to 200 people every week in rising meal lines in the city and folks complaining about lost tents and property. If Santa Cruz wants honest data and real solutions, he believes we have to stop mistaking displacement for success.
Posted inHealth & Wellness
Can AI help make homeless Californians healthier?
A California company is using artificial intelligence to help diagnose homeless Californians. The technology promises better access to health care, but it also raises questions.
Posted inLatest News
Coral Street encampment cleared a week before PIT count
The City of Santa Cruz cleared an encampment near homelessness nonprofit Housing Matters on Coral Street on Wednesday, just over a week before the county’s annual 2026 point-in-time count of unhoused people.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Q&A: Housing for Health director predicts an increase in homelessness during this year’s point-in-time count
Robert Ratner, Santa Cruz County’s Housing for Health director, predicts that next week’s point-in-time count of unhoused people will show an increase in homelessness, which he attributes to federal and state funding cuts and more requests from unhoused residents for help.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Watsonville City Council moves forward with changes to its oversized vehicle ordinance
The Watsonville City Council has approved changes to a local law that could ban RVs and semitrucks from parking along public streets citywide. The ordinance is slated for a second hearing Feb. 10 before being formally adopted.
Posted inLatest News
‘Things are going to get better for me’: Resident moving into Watsonville ‘tiny village’ says the housing will provide her stability
Connie Moreno will be one of the first residents of Watsonville’s long-awaited “tiny village” for people living along the Pajaro River levee. She tells Lookout ahead of move-in day on Monday that the shelter offers stability after years of living along the levee.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Santa Cruz houses 73% of homeless shelter beds in the county. That has to change.
Santa Cruz shoulders an outsized share of the county’s shelter beds, safe-parking sites and day services, despite making up less than a quarter of the population, writes local activist Kevin Norton.
Posted inLatest News
Community gathers to mourn loss of 37 unhoused residents at annual homelessness memorial
Thirty-seven unhoused Santa Cruz County residents died over the course of 2025, out of an estimated 1,728 total homeless residents. While that is just half the number who died in 2024, it is still about 1 out of every 42 people experiencing homelessness in the county.
Posted inLatest News
Mental health organization MHCAN hopes to resume its services; supervisors move to fill Housing Matters mail void
County behavioral health staff met this week with members of the Mental Health Client Action Network board of directors, who say they want to resume services within six months — but need to get past obligations paid first. On Tuesday, the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors took steps to prepare for homelessness nonprofit Housing Matters ending its day services in March, particularly the mail services that are a lifeline for many vulnerable residents.