Santa Cruz County Homelessness Digest

State lawmakers will debate a bill to require annual inspections, new complaint processes and harsher penalties for local governments that don’t file mandatory reports.

Read on to learn more about upcoming neighborhood meetings at local libraries hosted by local homelessness nonprofit Housing Matters for discussion around the topic of “Neighbors for Neighbors: At the Intersections.”

The Fremont city council has revised a new city camping ordinance, removing what had become a controversial clause — first reported on by CalMatters — that could have punished those  “aiding and abetting” encampments.

This appears to be the first such injunction since the U.S. Supreme Court let cities crack down on homeless encampments in California and beyond.

RED MEANS FAILURE, green means progress. Gov. Gavin Newsom introduced a new tracker tool this week that shows how local agencies are using state funds to eradicate homelessness and rates their success. The concept is to pool data on grants and reporting so counties can watch other counties; the public can watch state spending; and the governor can make the argument for granting or cutting funds.

It’s been eight months since the U.S. Supreme Court fundamentally changed how cities in California and beyond can respond to homeless encampments, allowing them to clear camps and arrest people for sleeping outside — even when there’s nowhere else to sleep.

The biggest obstacle? Not enough housing. Read on to learn more.

California voters overwhelmingly approved Proposition 36, a new law that stiffened penalties for certain drug and theft charges, and pledged to provide “mass treatment” for those facing drug charges.

But since the law took effect, some counties have been scrambling to implement the measure without new funding or, according to people involved in enforcing the law, sufficient resources.

Shelters have become California’s go-to solution for homelessness. A CalMatters investigation finds the vast majority of residents stay homeless.

Outreach workers in the Bay Area city of Fremont worry the new ordinance could target them, despite assurances from the city.

The unusual move is alarming activists who worry they could be in the ordinance’s crosshairs.

Read on to learn more about the documentary ‘Beyond the Bridge’ about how American cities are responding to homelessness, playing on February 13 at the Rio Theatre in Santa Cruz.

Jennielynn Holmes stood in the middle of a make-shift evacuation center when the scope of the crisis hit her.

A look at the shifting number and locations of homeless in the county in the last year.

Another Watsonville resident has filed an appeal against the 34-unit homeless tiny village proposed for the parcel occupied by the Westview Presbyterian Church.

Gov. Newsom launched an ambitious program that uses Medi-Cal to help Californians access housing, healthy food and more. Now, its fate is in the hands of President-Elect Trump.

Many California cities offer their homeless residents one-way bus tickets to other places.

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.