Santa Cruz County Homelessness Digest

About 40 friends and homeless advocates gathered at the clock tower in downtown Santa Cruz to memorialize former Benchlands resident Neoklis Koumides, who was stabbed to death on Nov. 21.

For more than 55 years, Community Action Board of Santa Cruz County has launched programs to help people experiencing poverty across Santa Cruz County and the Pájaro Valley, including homelessness prevention, employment and mentoring services for youth and adults, immigration legal services, and crisis response.

Gov. Gavin Newsom is not pleased with local leaders' plans to reduce homelessness, and will hold back state funding until they take more aggressive action: “Everyone has to do better.”

"We have the people who are up at the Armory right now, the 135 people that are now in better shelter conditions, and it’s sort of one step towards more stable permanent housing," said city Homelessness Response Manager Larry Imwalle said, reflecting on the camp's shuttering.

Despite an ongoing city worker labor strike, the closure of San Lorenzo Park Benchlands homeless encampment moved forward on schedule, affecting some 32 camp occupants.

Nearly 141 tons of refuse left behind in three cleared-out zones had been collected by city workers through last week’s closure. The next closure zone, with an estimated 24 occupants, will be shuttered Oct. 11.

As the eviction deadline for “Zone 3” of the San Lorenzo Park Benchlands encampment loomed, 10 individuals accepted city assistance to move to the National Guard Armory, said City Homeless Response Manager Larry Imwalle. The Zone 4 closure is expected to affect about 24 people, who will have until Oct. 5 to move.

It’s a common misconception that a physical address is required to cast a ballot. For individuals living in shelters or encampments, California offers several options for participating in local elections.

County leaders have accepted a nearly $10.7 million state Project Homekey grant for a high-profile extremely low-income housing project. In the coming month, construction will begin on the three-story, 36-unit modular Park Haven Plaza complex in Soquel.

Pamela Bright was among the first participants in a recreational vehicle safe parking program sponsored by the city of Santa Cruz and located in the parking lot outside the National Guard Armory in DeLaveaga Park. Nonprofit service provider The Free Guide is managing the program.

As the city of Santa Cruz continues to disperse its largest homeless encampment, a countywide analysis released Sept. 16 details the social epidemic’s larger picture.

The northernmost portion of the San Lorenzo Park Benchlands homeless encampment was shuttered on Sept. 13, affecting about 29 individuals living there. Closure of the second zone on Sept. 19 is expected to affect 54 individuals.

Officials are moving forward with efforts to shut down Benchlands, the city’s largest sanctioned encampment. By city estimates, about 225 people live along the San Lorenzo River floodplain, a space where those without shelter were moved into in the spring of 2021.

After a month-long recess, the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors received a presentation on homelessness in the county, approved a merger of the Planning Department and Department of Public Works, and discussed a ballot measure on supervisor term limits.

The Santa Cruz County Housing for Health Partnership released preliminary results from its homeless point-in-time count conducted in February. Even though the numbers show homelessness on the rise, there have been strides in reducing the number of families without shelter.

The closure of the homeless encampment in San Lorenzo Park, which was originally set for July, is back on. City spokesperson Elizabeth Smith said this week that the city expected to again begin taking strides toward that closure by mid- to late-August.

Photographer Gina Orlando encouraged nine people—all current or former members of the Downtown Streets Team—to explore their surroundings through point-and-shoot cameras.

Shortly before a permit appeal hearing on the city of Santa Cruz’s Oversized Vehicle Ordinance, California Coastal Commission officials reversed an earlier recommendation not to intervene.

After years of indecision prompted by uncovered lead contamination, city leaders have voted to launch the environmental cleanup process on a lower meadow of the Pogonip as early as June 2024.

City officials voted unanimously to expand a contract with the nonprofit hired to operate a homeless shelter program in Delaveaga Park. As early as mid-August, the Salvation Army will open a 60-space shelter program inside National Guard Armory.

Santa Cruz County has been granted a second Project Homekey award: a $10.7 million grant to build a 36-unit apartment building in Soquel.

Some 300 tents remain in the San Lorenzo Park Benchlands. The planned closure of the city’s largest sanctioned homeless encampment has been pushed back from next month to late summer, city officials announced.

City leaders agreed to bolster the workforce in order to carry out efforts spelled out in the new three-year Homelessness Response Action Plan. The spending approvals monopolized the Santa Cruz City Council’s evening meeting agenda.

The 2022 Monterey County Veterans Stand Down, an event where homeless veterans on the Central Coast can get help obtaining services, is coming up. Hosted by the Veterans Transition Center, it takes place June 17-18. All homeless men, women and veterans with families are welcome.

A San Lorenzo Valley homeless veterans housing project received a more than $6 million boost with the announcement of a state Project Homekey grant award. The new Veterans Village project will add 20 units of permanent supportive housing serving veterans.

The city has set an end date of July for the homeless encampment on the San Lorenzo Park Benchlands. “The council will remember that we discussed this as part of the Homelessness Action Plan,” Santa Cruz City Manager Matt Huffaker said during an April 12 meeting.

Tenants still waiting on rent relief will now likely have more time before facing eviction. The Legislature voted to extend eviction protections through June 30. The bill now heads to the governor’s desk for his signature.

A fire at a homeless village in Oakland’s Lake Merritt neighborhood consumed three structures made by Washington-based company Pallet. Santa Cruz nonprofit Housing Matters has some 40 Pallet shelters serving those in need of emergency shelter.

San Mateo County has made a bold pledge to end homelessness by the end of 2022. It sounds like a stretch, but this is San Mateo County, with about 900 people in the streets and another 600 in shelters—a smaller population than some L.A. neighborhoods.

California Republicans are advocating for a package of bills to tackle homelessness and mental health issues—but they claim their approach is more fiscally responsible.

In 2021, hunger plagued many in Santa Cruz County. Among those recognized by Second Harvest Food Bank for providing assistance is Darrie Ganzhorn, leader of the Homeless Garden Project.

Despite the challenges encountered by groups who attempted to count the unsheltered population this week, Santa Cruz County leaders say they are confident the point-in-time number will still represent the scale of the region’s problem.