Lookout Santa Cruz: Will measure C make a difference?
By Andrew Goldenkranz
The affordable housing crisis in Santa Cruz is painfully real, especially for seniors on fixed incomes, households facing rent increases that put them on the edge of eviction, young people who were raised in Santa Cruz and want to stay here, and people commuting long distances to jobs in the health care, education and service sectors. The lack of affordable housing in Santa Cruz is harming our community every day. Measure C, the Workforce Housing Affordability Act, takes a big swing at making a difference in addressing the crisis.
Measure C will raise an estimated $4.5 million annually for 20 years through an innovative hybrid tax that includes a progressive real estate transfer tax on property sales of $1.8 million and above, combined with a modest parcel tax that is the equivalent of $8 per month. Both taxes include significant exemptions to protect lower-income residents, renters, older adults, schools and more. The funds will be deposited in the City of Santa Cruz’s well-regarded Affordable Housing Trust Fund.
A reasonable question for some voters is, how can we be sure the funds will make a difference? Similarly, when Lookout endorsed Yes on Measure C, the editorial board asked that the City of Santa Cruz show the effectiveness of its annual expenditures to address affordable housing and homelessness.
The short answer to these questions is to take a look at the investments made by the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, combined with understanding that Measure C creates a new oversight committee and requires annual audits and public reports. The combination of the fund’s strong track record and Measure C’s oversight and reporting provisions can give voters confidence that passage of the measure will bring meaningful, positive change to the housing crisis in Santa Cruz.
But let’s dig into a longer answer and some detail.
Lookout’s editorial board endorsed Measure C, but called upon the City of Santa Cruz and the campaign to provide an accounting of how the city spends existing funds for affordable housing and homelessness, Though busy city staff might not have the time to complete Lookout’s broad request by Election Day, the volunteers and nonprofit housing representatives who work on the Yes on C campaign have researched important data that is helpful to better understand where and how funding is spent, as well as the impact it has.
Over the past 10 years, approximately $14.2 million has been invested, which includes $13.3 million to support affordable housing projects and $862,000 to prevent homelessness.
These funds come from state grants to the city, as well as the allocations from the city’s general fund. Funding recipients include community programs that provide emergency rental assistance and tenant legal assistance that have benefitted approximately 800 residents. In addition, funding has been provided for six different housing projects to help secure financing and build new, 100% deeply affordable housing in our community.
About those new affordable homes that have been built … with all the change happening in downtown Santa Cruz, are those new affordable housing projects actually needed? Are the units occupied? Given how many units have been built or are under construction, do we need any more?
The answers are yes, yes and yes.
Two great examples in downtown Santa Cruz are the Pacific Station South project (Pacific Avenue) and the Cedar Street Apartments project. Both are brand-new, both feature only affordable housing units and both are 100% leased – every apartment is filled.
Funded in part by the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, Pacific Station South features 69 units, received 1,600 applications when it opened and still maintains a waiting list of well over 500. Cedar Street Apartments includes 64 units and has a waiting list of over 300. That’s incredible demand and emblematic of the depth of our affordable housing crisis.
Looking at two of the biggest projects currently under construction, Pacific Station North and the Downtown Library & Affordable Housing Project, they will establish 128 and 124 units, respectively. We have a long way to go before we’ve come anywhere close to meeting the demand in Santa Cruz.
Part of the essential role played by Lookout is to seek clarity on local government funding and accountability, on behalf of the public. Thanks to Lookout, the community-based Yes on C campaign has been inspired to dig deeper into how the City of Santa Cruz has made investments to address the biggest crisis facing our community.
What we’ve confirmed is that the city’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund is making a truly meaningful impact by providing essential funds for key housing projects. We also can confirm that the city invests a modestly greater amount in preventing homelessness than previously thought, while preventing upward of 1,000 people from becoming homeless. We also can say that the decision to direct funds raised by Measure C to be deposited in the Affordable Housing Trust fund is a sound one that will produce benefits for our community for years to come.
Most of us know at least one family who has been directly affected by this crisis. You very likely know someone who has faced an eviction, has been forced to move out of the area and away from their community, or struggles with the huge amount of time lost to sitting in traffic twice a day on Highway 1 for their commute.
Passage of Measure C will be the biggest step forward for affordable housing in Santa Cruz in a generation. Please join me and dozens of local organizations, including Lookout’s editorial board, in supporting Yes on Measure C, the Workforce Housing Affordable Act, to make a difference for your community.
Andrew Goldenkranz serves as a volunteer with the Yes on Measure C campaign, as well as the board of the nonprofit Housing Santa Cruz County.