Santa Cruz County Homelessness Digest

Learn more about a California Coastal Commission vote which paves the way for the City of Santa Cruz to begin weekly street sweeping on Westside streets favored by people living in their vehicles.

The City of Watsonville is in the process of forming a citizen and agency task force to address the sharp increase in local homelessness. Read on for details and information about how you can apply to serve on the task force.

Homeless Californians face many barriers to casting a ballot, even in elections that affect their lives. Some counties and nonprofits are trying to boost turnout.

Multiple state agencies spent nearly $24 billion on housing and homeless programs in the first five years of Gavin Newsom’s governorship, but the number of people without homes continued to grow, rising by 20% to more than 180,000 in the most recent federal count in 2023.

An appeal has been filed against the approval of a 34-unit tiny home village for local homeless at the Westview Presbyterian Church in Watsonville.

A report on the October 5 community workshop held by the City of Watsonville to brainstorm ideas about addressing homelessness in the city.

Homeless service providers are scaling back and taking out loans as they wait for late payments from the government.

In a webinar presentation on September 17, City of Santa Cruz Homelessness Response Manager Larry Imwalle gave a report on the progress of city homelessness programs, noting successes and addressing submitted community questions.

Over the last five years, the state government has spent some $24 billion to ameliorate homelessness, which, according to polls, is California’s most troublesome issue.

Failed legislative bills have attempted to create safe parking programs for students to sleep in their cars on California campuses while awaiting housing. Meanwhile, Long Beach City College allows homeless students to park overnight.

One September 17, a groundbreaking ceremony was held for the start of construction of a 120 unit supportive housing development in the Harvey West neighborhood in Santa Cruz.

For five years, California officials responding to the homelessness crisis had to work around one big restriction imposed by the federal courts: Because they didn’t have enough shelter beds, cities generally couldn’t make homeless camps illegal.

More than two-dozen California cities passed, strengthened or are considering ordinances that penalize people for sleeping outside, after the U.S. Supreme Court allowed cities to crack down.

In their September 10 meeting, the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors heard how the Human Services Department was addressing the shift in the homeless population from Santa Cruz to Watsonville.

An exclusive CalMatters analysis of the latest California homeless count reveals some good news and bad news: Though the growth rate of homelessness appears to be slowing, the overall number of unhoused Californians increased from two years ago.

A proposed new law proposed for the City of Santa Cruz would prohibit the unsanctioned drop-off of homeless people in Santa Cruz, as allegedly occurred recently when two San Joaquin Valley police officers dropped a homeless person off in the city.

California has allocated more than $20 billion to alleviate the state’s homelessness crisis since Gavin Newsom became governor in 2019, but there’s precious little data on how the money was spent and what effect it’s had, other than the number of unhoused people has continued to climb.

A Housing Matters hosted meeting held on August 27 at the Capitola Branch Library covered how the nonprofit sees the effects of criminalization of homelessness.

A letter from Santa Cruz City Manager on the city's approach to homelessness and homeless encampments.

Mayor Fred Keeley details the City of Santa Cruz strategic response to homelessness.

The Santa Cruz City Council approved a contract to clean up an estimated 40 homeless encampments sprinkled throughout the Pogonip scenic open space reserve.

A critical new federal audit calls out California for doing too little to prevent fraudulent spending of homelessness funds. Nearly $320 million was at risk.

The City and County of Santa Cruz have signaled no change to their respective "service oriented" homeless policies.

On July 22, the City of Watsonville began clearing a homeless camp adjacent to the Pajaro River levee.

In 2021, responding to reports that the state’s homeless shelters were dirty and dangerous, the state Legislature crafted a plan: It would require local governments to inspect their shelters after complaints and file annual reports on shelter conditions.

The Supreme Court’s decision on homelessness will test a shelter system that’s full of problems – and lacking accountability.

Taking advantage of new state funds, some California healthcare providers are starting to offer what their homeless patients really need: housing.

There’s a lot of misinformation floating around out there about homelessness in California. We use data to dispel several common myths.

Mayor Fred Keeley says City of Santa Cruz will stay the course of the current strategy, for now.

Santa Cruz officials are reviewing homelessness policies in the wake of the US Supreme Court ruling in the Grants Pass v Johnson case.

The ruling by the conservative court majority means cities no longer are prohibited from punishing homeless people for camping if they have nowhere else to go.

The Supreme Court 6-3 ruling in the City of Grants Pass v. Johnson case found that the fining and arresting of homeless people does not violate Eighth Amendment rights.