Santa Cruz is on track to add nearly 900 truly affordable apartments — well short of what’s needed for teachers, servers, health care workers and longtime unhoused neighbors, writes housing advocate and former Santa Cruz mayor Don Lane. He advocates for Measure C on the November ballot.
Santa Cruz ballot measures 2025
News and Community Voices opinion coverage of Measures B and C on ballots in the city of Santa Cruz in November 2025.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
In the Public Interest: A decision on ballot language could turn the campaigns for Santa Cruz’s ballot measures
Inside Santa Cruz County politics & policy with Lookout correspondent Christopher Neely.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Santa Cruz Mayor Fred Keeley’s tax doesn’t put community first
Santa Cruz’s proposed “Workforce Housing Affordability Act,” led by Mayor Fred Keeley, is a top-down, consultant-driven tax plan that lacks genuine community input, writes activist Hector Marin. He argues the $96 parcel tax and tiered real estate transfer tax are regressive, with unclear enforcement and little assurance they will deliver true affordable housing. The initiative, he writes, fails to meet the real needs of working families seeking homeownership and stability and the public should reject it in November.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Tensions start to flare as sides submit dueling Santa Cruz housing measures
With the signatures now submitted, local housing advocates and the real estate industry prepare to face off in a battle of ballot measures to go before voters in the city of Santa Cruz this November.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Santa Cruz’s moral fight over the property sales transfer tax – be sure to pick your side wisely
Lookout politics columnist Mike Rotkin comes out against an affordable housing proposal put forth by realtors to rival one proposed by local activists, saying it is an attempt to confuse voters and subvert the democratic process. It’s not about creating housing, he says. He calls on Santa Cruzans to channel the energy used to beat back Big Cola last November to reject this initiative. Signatures on the petitions for the rival initiatives are due May 9. They need 3,620 signatures to qualify for the November ballot in the city.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Fact check: Cutting through the fog of competing affordable housing petitions in the city of Santa Cruz
In a city grappling with housing affordability, two rival ballot measures have emerged in Santa Cruz: one backed by the mayor, another by real estate interests. What are the differences between the competing petitions claiming to raise money for affordable housing?
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Why Santa Cruz realtors are against the Workforce Housing Solutions Act – setting the record straight
The Santa Cruz County Association of Realtors opposes Santa Cruz Mayor Fred Keeley’s Workforce Housing Solutions Act, which is gathering signatures for the November ballot. The organization supports affordable housing, writes Renee Mello, the group’s president, but believes the proposed “double tax” – which would put an annual $96 parcel tax on most lots throughout the city of Santa Cruz, and an additional tax on homes sold for more than $1.8 million – would make selling homes too burdensome. “If this measure were only a parcel tax, we may have taken a position of support, but unfortunately this was not the case,” she writes.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
I support a proposed tax measure for the city of Santa Cruz in November
Lookout politics columnist Mike Rotkin supports a tax measure championed by Santa Cruz Mayor Fred Keeley that is gathering signatures for the November ballot. Here, he unpacks the two tax proposals and how they will benefit the community.
Posted inHousing & Development
Santa Cruz real estate lobby opposes proposed affordable housing tax measure
The Santa Cruz County Association of Realtors’ unexpected opposition throws shade over the proposed Workforce Housing Solutions Act, an affordable housing tax measure designed to raise $5 million annually through a parcel tax and a tax on sales of luxury homes in the city of Santa Cruz.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
In the Public Interest: Battery fire douses Santa Cruz County proposal with skepticism
Inside Santa Cruz County politics & policy with Lookout correspondent Christopher Neely.