Tiny homes are increasingly California cities’ shelter option of choice — but how far they go in solving homelessness is a contentious question.
Housing
Posted inPolitics & Policy
As county confronts housing crisis, even some homeless outreach workers are on the brink of becoming unhoused
More than 30 Santa Cruz County community members came to the 418 Project on Thursday to hear local city and law enforcement officials discuss positives and negatives surrounding the city and county’s housing crisis. The event also featured a screening of the Andrew Purchin documentary “What’s Home? Creative Listening Across Differences,” which explores the county’s housing crisis through collaborative art projects created among artists, writers, musicians and both housed and unhoused people, along with a song by local rap artist Alwa Gordon.
Posted inHousing & Development
Inside Santa Cruz’s ambitious downtown expansion plans: 12-story towers and a new multipurpose Warriors arena
A new arena for the Santa Cruz Warriors. Lots of new housing in tall buildings. Street reconfiguration. These factors are all in play as Santa Cruz officials prepare to update the public on where things stand with the neighborhood south of Laurel Street downtown — and a ballot measure governing building heights and affordability could yet change the calculus.
Posted inWatsonville / Pajaro
A new era for downtown Watsonville begins after unanimous city council vote
Watsonville’s city council unanimously voted Tuesday night to approve a new 30-year vision to reinvigorate the city’s downtown. The goal is to transform the area into a vibrant hub of culture and commerce, complete with bike lanes, pedestrian-friendly streets and opportunities for new development. That vision rests on a plan for Caltrans to reduce Main Street from four lanes to two.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Petition to cap Santa Cruz building height has enough signatures to qualify for March ballot, organizers say
Organizers of a petition to give voters the power to approve tall buildings in the city of Santa Cruz say they have gathered enough signatures to place a measure on the March primary ballot. The initiative from the group known as Housing for People would require voter approval for proposed new developments that exceed current zoning limits and would enforce affordable housing requirements in large multi-family projects. The initiative comes in response to a downtown expansion plan that sparked controversy with its proposal for 12-story buildings.
Posted inHousing & Development
Can’t afford California? Try living in a tiny sleeping pod. All 4 feet of it
Two young entrepreneurs who themselves struggled to remain housed now run a company that aims to create affordable dwellings in California’s biggest cities.
Posted inEducation
How small is too small? UC Regents delay approval of new UCLA dorm, questioning room size
UCLA is planning a student housing project offering most rooms for just $600 a month — but just 265 square feet for three students. The University of California regents question if that’s too small and have delayed approval.
Posted inLatest News
California home insurers plan return to fire zones under new deal
Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara announced Thursday that he struck a deal with the insurance industry to encourage new coverage in the state. Insurers, Lara said, agreed to return to the high-risk fire zones in the hills and canyons of California in exchange for a number of concessions that will make it easier, in theory, for them to get higher rate increases through the state regulator more quickly.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
How California lawmakers greenlit ‘any flavor of affordable housing you could possibly want’
A patchwork of bills are giving housing developers and local governments more options to reduce red tape for housing projects.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Anti-density stances are bad for Santa Cruz — so are ballot initiatives on building heights
Economist Richard McGahey responds to Housing for People activist Susan Monheit’s Sept. 15 Lookout piece. The two have been engaged in a lively public debate about changes to downtown Santa Cruz and the usefulness of a ballot initiative on tall buildings Housing for People is trying to get on the March ballot. McGahey, whose 2023 book on inequitable cities was nominated for a National Book Award, is against the initiative. “Not only do we voters not know enough, but such voting actually is anti-democratic, favoring wealthier people and homeowners,” he says.