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.
Housing Matters
Posted inPolitics & Policy
City, county of Santa Cruz formally begin process to replace Housing Matters’ day services
The Santa Cruz City Council moved to form a group of city and county staff members to begin exploring options to replace the day services that homelessness nonprofit Housing Matters is poised to halt at the end of March. Staff are expected to return no later than Feb. 28 with a recommendation.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Closing Housing Matters’ day services won’t hurt just the unhoused — it will push the working poor closer to crisis
The planned closure of Housing Matters’ day services – including public showers, bathrooms and mail access — is being framed as affecting only people experiencing homelessness, but it will also hit Santa Cruz’s working poor who rely on these essentials, writes housing scholar Erin Gaede.
Posted inLatest News
Packages, family letters and social security: Inside the final months of a tiny Santa Cruz mail room that provides a lifeline for the homeless
In a room barely larger than a cubicle, 1,710 lives intersect through benefits, letters from family, bulletin boards and daily routines. The Housing Matters’ mail room reveals how something as simple as a physical address can underpin survival and dignity for the region’s unhoused. The mail room is slated to close in March, along with other day services at the Coral Street campus. Local officials are racing to find a replacement.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Bob Dylan tribute show at Kuumbwa Jazz to raise funds for Housing Matters
Housing Matters will be the beneficiary of a Nov. 21 tribute to Bob Dylan at the Kuumbwa Jazz Center to help raise money for the Santa Cruz nonprofit’s shelters and other programs.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Why are Housing Matters’ vital day services for unhoused people being closed?
OPINION: Housing Matters — Santa Cruz County’s largest homelessness nonprofit — plans in March to shut down its Coral Street day services, including public showers, bathrooms and a mailroom. The closure comes with no clear transition plan, writes Marsa Greenspan, a former Housing Matters employee.
Posted inLatest News
As day center set to close, unhoused residents worry about a future without showers, mail and phone charging
Replacing the showers, mailroom, charging plugs and other services that Santa Cruz homelessness nonprofit Housing Matters plans to end in March will be a tall task, due to funding shortages and a lack of space for such an operation.
Posted inLatest News
Santa Cruz nonprofit Housing Matters to end homeless day services, sparking staff backlash
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.
Posted inHousing & Development
Housing Matters holds storytelling event Sunday
The event on Sunday at Hotel Paradox in Santa Cruz allows community leaders and individuals with lived experience of homelessness and housing insecurity to share their stories.
Posted inLatest News
Housing Matters partners with local libraries for neighborhood meetings
Homelessness nonprofit Housing Matters is partnering with Santa Cruz Public Libraries for a series of free social-justice-oriented events in Watsonville, Santa Cruz and Capitola as part of a program called “Neighbors for Neighbors: At the Intersections.”