If the planning commission approves the permit at its meeting Thursday night, the City of Santa Cruz will have more than three months to address any appeals that may be filed between Thursday and May 11, when the existing permit is set to expire.
Santa Cruz Free Guide
Posted inHousing & Development
Santa Cruz County’s point-in-time count remains an imperfect measure of homelessness
The annual point-in-time count took place Thursday morning, with about 130 volunteers, local officials and homelessness service workers hitting the streets before sunrise in an attempt to get the most accurate picture of homelessness in Santa Cruz County possible.
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 inLatest News
As cold snap chills Santa Cruz, county urges homeless into temporary shelters
Santa Cruz County is in the grips of a cold snap set to last through Tuesday, with temperatures potentially dropping below 30 degrees in parts of Watsonville. County officials are opening three shelters for the unhoused.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
‘Nobody should be without a home’: Santa Cruz County marks record number of deaths of unhoused residents
122 unhoused people have died in Santa Cruz County over the course of 2023, with 61 of those deaths attributed to fentanyl-related accidental overdoses. While friends, family and community members gathered Thursday to pay respects, speakers also expressed the need for better access to housing, health care and harm reduction.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Santa Cruz’s oversized vehicle ordinance goes into effect Monday. Will it help solve homelessness?
The City of Santa Cruz’s oversized vehicle ordinance goes into effect Monday after a lengthy road to approval. While safe parking services are available for those living in RVs and campers, spaces are often full, and some worry about the ability of their often old vehicles to withstand traveling to and from the designated parking areas.
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 inPolitics & Policy
Santa Cruz County 2023 point-in-time count shows lowest homelessness level in over a decade — but ‘still a lot of gaps’
Santa Cruz County’s homeless population decreased by more than 20% compared to last year, according to a February survey. But local officials point to ways the county can continue to improve, including better financial-assistance resources and tenants-rights education, paired with more support from federal and state governments. The one-day count has its limitations, and one advocate says “it doesn’t feel like there have been a lot of big wins” in the past year.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
After very public Benchlands clearing, Santa Cruz taking quieter approach with Pogonip homeless encampment
In this edition of In the Public Interest, Christopher Neely looks at what’s different about efforts beginning Monday to clear the homeless encampment in Pogonip from how the City of Santa Cruz moved residents out of the San Lorenzo River Benchlands last fall.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Santa Cruz to wait ‘several months’ to enforce oversized vehicle ban after Coastal Commission approval
Christopher Neely examines the next steps for the City of Santa Cruz’s oversized vehicle ordinance after the California Coastal Commission approved a one-year pilot last week.