Ariel Marshall, a senior official from the U.S. Department of Energy visited Santa Cruz city leaders on Wednesday to learn about progress made on all-electric housing and other developments. Marshall’s message was loud and clear: there’s federal money for more of the city’s climate-friendly projects.
Housing
Posted inK-12 Education
Live Oak School District extends Meals on Wheels, Senior Network Services eviction to Aug. 30
During their regular board meeting Wednesday evening, Live Oak School District’s board approved extending eviction notices for the seniors services from June 30 to August 30 while the board finalizes a potential updated lease agreement. The district is aiming to build between 60 to 70 housing units on the nearly two-acre site across the street from Live Oak Elementary School, but Meals on Wheels says it has struggled to find a new location.
Posted inHousing & Development
Santa Cruz County homes for sale hit lowest level in more than 20 years
The drop in home sales and new listings in Santa Cruz County can partly be attributed to the “mortgage lock-in effect,” or the reluctance for a homeowner to sell their home when they have a low interest rate locked in. Buyers took advantage of low rates during the pandemic, and are now choosing to stay put as a result. And the building of single-family homes hasn’t kept pace with demand.
Posted inHousing & Development
‘Factually accurate, and untrue’: Was Santa Cruz really the second-fastest-growing city in the U.S. last year?
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the population of the city of Santa Cruz grew by nearly 7,000 in a single year, or a growth rate of 12.5% between July 2021 and July 2022. But one researcher says all of the growth very likely came from a rebound in Santa Cruz’s student population when college and university campuses reopened after pandemic closures.
Posted inHousing & Development
‘Mentally, physically, financially exhausting’: Santa Cruz County now the most expensive rental market in the U.S.
Santa Cruz County tops the list of most expensive rental markets in the country, according to the nonprofit National Low Income Housing Coalition. According to the report, the fair market rent for a two-bedroom rental in the county is $3,293; renters would have to earn an average “housing wage” of $63.33 an hour to be able to afford that rent.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Santa Cruz handed its planned 2024 housing bond to the community to lead. Now what?
A broad coalition appears to be crucial to persuading Santa Cruz voters to pass some kind of bond or parcel tax, but despite interest in the process and in the goal of building more affordable housing from players around the city’s political scene, “we are way past the point of someone needing to claim this as their own,” says one planning commissioner.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
The biggest survey of homeless Californians in decades shows why so many are on the streets
The largest survey of homeless Californians in decades aims to dispel myths about what drives that state’s most pressing crisis. It found that addiction and mental health conditions rarely cause homelessness.
Posted inEvents, Politics & Policy
Renters’ rights: California advocates chip away at landlords’ political influence
As groups representing landlords and real estate pour millions of dollars into political coffers to influence housing policy, tenant groups are celebrating recent victories.
Posted inHousing & Development
Civil grand jury dings Scotts Valley, Capitola over affordable housing — and exponential increases are still ahead
By 2031, under state mandates, Capitola will need to boost its affordable housing permitting by roughly 9,000% over what it permitted between 2015 and 2022; Scotts Valley will need to permit 803 new income-restricted units, a more than 4,000% increase. That comes after both jurisdictions struggled to meet state goals from 2015 through 2022, and both come in for criticism in a recent report by Santa Cruz County’s civil grand jury.
Posted inHousing & Development
Which way to the beach? After decades of talking about it, Santa Cruz is finally poised to connect downtown to the beach
Making the transition from downtown to the beach seamless has been a goal of city leaders for years, and now Santa Cruz is poised to convert the area south of Laurel Street into a busy, pedestrian-friendly part of town, similar to a few blocks north. A new housing complex on Center Street is to be called Calypso, a six-story building with more than 200 units of market-rate and affordable housing.