The Watsonville City Council will vote on an affordable housing project on Airport Road led by Habitat for Humanity Monterey Bay at its next meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 22. The project will include 13 homes–11 three bedroom homes and two two-bedroom homes.
Housing
Posted inPolitics & Policy
More than a month in, how has Santa Cruz’s oversized vehicle ordinance gone so far?
The City of Santa Cruz has handed out more than 200 citations as part of its controversial overnight parking ban, which took effect Dec. 4. City staff say everyone seeking overnight safe parking has been able to access the program, but homeless service providers and ordinance opponents remained concerned about the law’s wider implications.
Posted inEducation
Lookout Update: UCSC says it will start constructing Student Housing West in the spring
UC Santa Cruz officials say they plan to begin construction on the long-delayed Student Housing West project in the spring. Opponents of the project say legal challenges will likely prevent the school from breaking ground.
Posted inHousing & Development
Major downtown Santa Cruz rental housing projects near completion
As the year comes to an end, three housing projects in downtown Santa Cruz are nearly finished. The Cedar Street Family Apartments, an affordable housing complex, is set to welcome residents in February, while the market-rate Anton Pacific apartments aim for move-ins by the end of that month. The developers of Pacific Station South, also intended as affordable housing, expect the project to open in May or June.
Posted inLatest News
Petition to limit building height in Santa Cruz officially qualifies for March ballot
City of Santa Cruz voters will likely get the chance to vote in March on whether they want a say before developers build taller than the city’s existing height limits. The citizen-led effort to put the question on the ballot has citywide implications, but is inspired by a city vision for a 1,600-unit downtown expansion to south of Laurel Street.
Posted inHousing & Development
Santa Cruz County’s state-mandated housing plan opens new doors to development
Last year, Santa Cruz County learned it would need to permit more than 4,600 new, state-mandated housing units by 2031 — an unprecedented boost in housing supply. Last week, the county approved its plan to make room for that new housing.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
We can end unsheltered houselessness quickly and cheaply — here’s our five-step plan
With one-time funds that are unlikely to be replenished running out for the City of Santa Cruz’s homeless services, Reggie Meisler and Jasmeen Miah advocate for a five-step solution that will stop the up-and-down funding cycle and avoid a return to criminalization as a primary policy tool. The first step, they write in a Community Voices opinion piece: Purchase 900 to 1,000 recreational vehicles and give them to unsheltered people to live in.
Posted inHousing & Development
Housing market picks up slightly in October after slow start to fall season
Santa Cruz County’s housing market picked up slightly in October despite a slow start to the often-busy fall season, but very high interest rates remain the driving force of low inventory and slow sales. Real estate agents still believe rates will fall within the next year or so, but there’s no certainty about when that might be.
Posted inHousing & Development
Santa Cruz County housing market slows amid skyrocketing mortgage rates
Mortgage rates reached a new high in early October, leading to a slow start for the housing market’s typically busy fall season. Some buyers have pulled back, while others are paying below asking price, opening the door for some who have been beaten out by cash buyers in recent years.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Homelessness 102: Santa Cruz County needs to spend more on emergency response
In the second of two pieces on homelessness, housing activist and former Santa Cruz mayor Don Lane breaks down the differences in the way the City of Santa Cruz thinks about housing people and how the county does. “The city puts much more emphasis on interim shelter,” he writes, “… and spends several million dollars per year here. I believe the county ought to match the city’s commitment.”