![]() ![]() The third, a 36-unit Park Haven Plaza modular home project in Aptos, remains under construction.īoth jurisdictions are working through multiyear strategic plans to address local homelessness. ![]() Two of the three permanent supportive housing projects receiving funding from the state’s Project Homekey grants have opened their doors to tenants, including an initial offering from the planned 20-unit Veterans Village in Ben Lomond and the seven-unit Casa Azul in Santa Cruz. Housing Matters Executive Director Phil Kramer gestures in June toward the soon-to-be occupied seven-unit “Casa Azul” supportive housing apartment building at 801 River St. The county’s Rehousing Wave effort, working in collaboration with the Housing Authority of Santa Cruz County, placed 295 formerly homeless households - representing more than 425 people - into homes between October 2021 and early 2023. ![]() Limiting affordable housing efforts was the fact that Santa Cruz County continued to sit among the highest ranked in studies of rental housing affordability, including top slots in the 2022 report by the National Low Income Housing Coalition and the National Low Income Housing Coalition’s 2023 Out of Reach report. With the support of ongoing state dollars and a twisting labyrinth of specialized grants, Santa Cruz County’s efforts on the homeless front have expanded in areas of broader root-cause issues such as behavioral health and drug addiction challenges, in addition to tackling the local ongoing affordable housing supply shortage. The latest survey numbers were published Thursday, more than a month after local governments set in motion their budget plans for the coming fiscal years. The region’s annual homeless point-in-time count, conducted by volunteers on a single day in late February, recorded a one-year decrease of more than 21%, bringing the census to the county’s lowest recorded population of 1,804 unhoused individuals. ![]() (Aric Sleeper - Santa Cruz Sentinel file) Jessica and Betsy Scheiner scan the area for people experiencing homelessness during the 2023 point-in-time homeless count. SANTA CRUZ - Coming out of a punishing winter and the end of the coronavirus pandemic’s state of emergency, Santa Cruz County’s homeless population has remained highly visible and yet significantly dwindled, according to results of a recent study. ![]()
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