"Housing and Homelessness in Santa Cruz County - 2007"

The National League of Cities recently concluded that cities are not meeting the needs of their most vulnerable households.  The League released the results of their survey on Critical Housing Needs in early December of 2006 finding that the local municipal housing directors say that the residents with the most critical housing needs are, 1) Lower-income working families, 2) Elderly and aging residents, 3) Disabled or dependent adults, followed closely by Single-parent families and Middle income working families.[1]

 Housing problems, nationally, have concentrated among the lowest income renter households. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, the 50 states needed “at least an additional 4.9 million rental units… to the lowest income renter households.”  As a result low income families are becoming homeless, are living in overcrowded conditions, are doubled up, are paying precariously high percentages of their incomes for housing, and are living in dilapidated housing.[2] Or are leaving. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) estimates low-income renter households exceed the number of low-cost rental units by 4.4 million, with nearly two low-income renters for every low-cost unit.[3]

 The National League of Cities recently concluded that cities are not meeting the needs of their most vulnerable households.  The League released the results of their survey on Critical Housing Needs in early December of 2006 finding that the local municipal housing directors say that the residents with the most critical housing needs are, 1) Lower-income working families, 2) Elderly and aging residents, 3) Disabled or dependent adults, followed closely by Single-parent families and Middle income working families.[4]

 The notion of Fair Market Rent (FMR) in California is becoming a thing of the past.  FMR is the HUD concept that a household should pay no more than 30% of their income on housing and utilities.  People living on fixed incomes or lower wages in 2006 were not only priced out of home ownership, but were also finding it impossible to rent within the inflated Central Coast housing market.  According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, a family in California needed to earn at least $22.86/hour – working 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year – to pay rent and utilities in California ’s mad housing market. This was a 37.4% increase since 2000.

 In 2006, California was the second least affordable state in the nation for renters. The typical renter in California earned $15.14, which was $7.72 short of what was needed for even a modest apartment.  Working at the minimum wage, a California family needed 3.4 individuals to work full-time to afford a modest two-bedroom apartment.[5]

 FMR in Santa Cruz County for a two bedroom apartment was $1,359 based on a household earning $54,360 per year.  To earn that amount a wage earner would have had to work 40 hours per week and earn $26.13.  A minimum wage worker on the other hand, earning $6.75 per hour would have had to work 155 hours per week to earn enough to make that affordable.  Renters in Santa Cruz County earn ($11.81 est.) considerably less than home owners and so would have had to work 89 hours per week to make housing affordable (30% of income).[6]

 Almost 42% of households in Santa Cruz County paid half of their income for housing, and for households earning less than $35,000 almost 60% paid half of their income or more for housing and 37% paid more than three quarters of their income for housing.[7] For young adults the cost of housing is overwhelming. 77% of young people between the ages of 18 and 24 paid half of their income for housing.  47% pay 3/4 of their income for housing. It’s no wonder that they are leaving.[8] 

  “Anecdotal evidence” seems to indicate that the reason more California residents left for another state than came from another state was the high cost of housing. According to an analysis by Hans Johnson, a demographer with the Public Policy Institute of California it has been a decade since we have seen this happen.  The people who were leaving included significant numbers of Latinos, primarily Mexican-Americans.  In fact, 320,000 more Latinos left than came to California in the past five years.[9] Many schools continued to report lower class attendance because families have been moving to areas they can better afford. School enrollment in Santa Cruz County decreased by 1.3% between school year 2001/02 and 2002/03 and another .7% between school year 2002/03 and 2003/04.[10] 

 In October 2006 the California Association of Realtors announced another increase in the cost of single-family homes of 2% when compared to the same period a year ago.[11] The median price of an existing, single-family detached home in California during October 2006 was $548,680.

 Even for households who earned the median income of $75,100[12], the housing market in Santa Cruz County continued to price most out of reach in 2006. In the third quarter of 2006, only 18% of households living in Santa Cruz County could afford to purchase a median priced home[13], down from 21% one year ago. What this means is that only 18% of households living in Santa Cruz County earned an income of at least $133,450 qualifying them to purchase a median priced home at $646,000 and pay a monthly mortgage of $4,450 (up $100 over one year ago). In addition, the rental market remained inflated in spite of some recent minor reductions

 40% of Santa Cruz County households rent.  The National Low Income Housing Coalition found that Santa Cruz County was the eighth most expensive rental market in the country following Marin, San Mateo , San Francisco , Orange , Ventura , Nantucket County , MA , and Westchester County , N.Y. .[14] This is a slight improvement since 2004 when Santa Cruz County was fifth least affordable rental market in the country.

 Henry Cisneros, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development under President Clinton, made it clear why there is such a deficit in affordable rental housing. Speaking in response to the Critical Housing report released by the League of Cities Cisneros said that, “…only 2.2 million new affordable housing units – primarily rentals—were built during the 1990s compared with 5 million in the 1970s”.[15]

  Santa Cruz County , as part of a general Central Coast housing trend, had an unprecedented increase in the cost of housing between 1999 and 2006.  Even during the great economic boom of the 1990s, businesses and services experienced significant difficulty in finding workers that could afford the cost of housing.  Positions for police officers, teachers, bus drivers and fire fighters went unfilled. 

 .9% of households in Santa Cruz County have experienced homelessness at some time in 2005 according to the Community Assessment Project Year 12, 2006 Report[16]  (CAP), a telephone survey of currently housed Santa Cruz County residents.  Youth 18 to 24 years of age were much more likely to have been homeless in the previous year (3.6%).  From the CAP 2006 Report we can project that he number of county residents who were housed in April 2006, at the time of the survey, who had experienced homelessness in the past year, was close to 2,247.

 But that number, 2,247, does not include the county residents who were homeless in April 2006 when the survey was conducted, and therefore were not reflected in the CAP 2006 findings. 

The number of people homeless at the time of the CAP year 12 survey was probably close to the number of homeless people counted in the last scientific homeless census taken in the year 2005;  3,371.[17]. We can therefore project that 5,618 people may have been homeless at some time in the last year in Santa Cruz County . 

 Perhaps the four most significant conclusions reached concerning homeless people in the last few years are that:

1.      Of all the people who are going to become homeless in Santa Cruz County over the course of the coming year, many are currently housed.  Prevention services are very important.

2.      Homeless people don’t come from somewhere else; they are mostly from Santa Cruz County and they are our neighbors, our sons and daughters, our friends.

3.      Homeless people overwhelmingly want to live in a home; they are not homeless because they want to be.

4.      Most people are homeless for less than 6 months. People may cycle in and out of homelessness.[18]

 More than half of homeless people were between the ages of 30 and 50 and more than half have children.  Surprisingly 28.4% said that they grew up in Santa Cruz County and the report contradicted a common misconception, the “magnet theory” that homeless people came from somewhere else. In fact, more than two thirds reported that their last permanent housing was in Santa Cruz County . Only one in 10 cited their last permanent housing in another U.S. State.  81% have lived here for more than a year and of those more than half said they had lived in Santa Cruz County for more than ten years and 23% have lived here for more than twenty years.[19] One third of homeless people are working and one tenth are working full time.  That adds up to approximately 1,100 people in Santa Cruz county who are working at least part time including 340 who are working full time but remain homeless.[20]  

 30% of homeless people said they are hungry; they simply do not eat often enough. 20% ate only one meal a day and only 32% ate three meals per day.  Fewer homeless people had health coverage (47%) than housed people (83%) and 28% said that there was a time in the last 12 months that they needed health care and did not receive it.[21]

 In the past some households have made use of the State Park Camp system for legal shelter for a time if they found themselves temporarily “between residences” as a result of being temporarily “between jobs”. This was used by many people, including families with children, and offered a “camping trip” while waiting for the right new home to come to the family.  From the children’s point of view, a view shared by most adults, “camping” was much more fun than a stay at a homeless shelter.  Unfortunately in 2004 the park service placed a maximum stay of 30 days of camping in any one year in any or all of the State Parks in California .  Previously the rule had been a couple of weeks at a time in any individual park which meant that people could move from one park to another. There was no total beyond which a household could no longer use the campgrounds.  The loss of the possibility of parking and camping overnight in the State Park system for more than 30 days created increased illegal camping and parking on the streets of the County and of course significant stress on the people, especially the children. As a result of the loss of this un-official but important shelter resource for people who are temporarily without shelter has been a significant loss of legal emergency shelter available in Santa Cruz County .

There is some good news none the less. 

In 2005 the Homeless Services Center opened the Rowland & Pat Rebele Family Shelter in the City of Santa Cruz . The shelter is part of the Homeless Services Center campus on Coral Street , which includes laundry, hygiene, and postal and food services for the chronically homeless. The Rebele Family Shelter makes it possible for families to participate in a 90-day program with the possibility of extensions for a total of six months maximum stay. The shelter is designed for homeless people with children and provides small individual family apartments.

 Other Documents about Housing and Homelessness in Santa Cruz County :

 Four reports published locally give insight into housing and homelessness in Santa Cruz and offer possible directions for finding solutions.

1.      2005 Santa Cruz County Homeless Census and Survey: Prepared by Applied Survey Research for the United Way and funded by a joint effort on the part of the County of Santa Cruz and the four cities; Santa Cruz, Watsonville, Capitola and Scotts Valley. The 2005 Santa Cruz County Homeless Census and Survey is the first scientific analysis of Homelessness in Santa Cruz County since 2000.  The next census and survey will be conducted in early 2007.  

2.      Farmworker Housing and Health Assessment Study – Salinas and Pajaro Valley Final Report, June 2001, prepared for the counties of Monterey and Santa Cruz and released in early June of 2001 by Applied Survey Research and The Center for Community Advocacy, a large body of comparative statistical data illustrates the current severity of housing and health issues that affect seasonal and migrant farmworkers.   

3.      The Santa a Cruz County Five Year Strategic Plan on Homelessness is a blueprint for preventing and reducing homelessness in the County. Two years in the making and 80 pages later, the five-year plan, a product of the Continuum of Care Working Group, responded to the solid, scientific data presented in both the Santa Cruz County Homeless 2000 Census and Needs Assessment, and the Santa Cruz County Community Assessment Project reports. In spite of the complexity of the issues presented, the five-year plan presents six recurring ideas or themes that become the basis of the community effort to reduce and prevent homelessness. Divided into five chapters that address key areas of need, it outlines the steps to guide implementation.  

4.      Santa Cruz County Ten-Year Plan to End Homelessness: 2003-2013 A collaboration of County and City staff, service providers, and homeless advocates developed a comprehensive and coordinated system of “affordable housing and support services for the prevention and end of homelessness within ten years”. The “Plan” was developed from the data collected and insights developed by the community in producing the 2005 and 2000 Santa Cruz County Homeless Census and Survey’s. The U.S. Housing and Urban Development Department (HUD) expects communities to have a long-range plan in order to effectively compete for annual federal funds and has resulted in service providers in Santa Cruz County receiving over $3.5 million from HUD.

The Census and Survey:  What Have We Learned About Homelessness?

 More than half of homeless people were between the ages of 30 and 50 and more than half have children.  Surprisingly, 28.4% said that they grew up in Santa Cruz County contradicting a common misconception—the “magnet theory”—that homeless people came from somewhere else. In fact, more than two-thirds of the homeless people interviewed reported that their last permanent housing was in Santa Cruz County . Only one in 10 cited their last permanent housing in another U.S. State.  In addition, 81% have lived here for more than a year, and of those, more than half said they had lived in Santa Cruz County for more than 10 years while 23% have lived here for more than 20 years.[22]

 The Working Poor

One-third of homeless people work, and one-tenth work full time.  That means approximately 1,100 people in Santa Cruz County are homeless although they are working at least part-time, and 340 are working full-time but remain homeless.[23]  

 In addition to being without shelter, 30% of homeless people also said they are hungry--they simply do not eat often enough. Of the group, 20% ate only one meal a day and only 32% ate three meals per day.  Not surprisingly, fewer homeless people had health coverage (47%) than housed people (83%), and 28% said that in the last 12 months that they needed health care and did not receive it.[24]

 Farmworker Housing Crisis

The Salinas and Pajaro Valleys are two of the richest and most productive agricultural regions in the nation and while the crop production value is almost $2.5 billion, the wages and housing conditions of the farmworkers are substandard and the working conditions are harsh and in many cases hazardous.

 In the report called the Farmworker Housing and Health Assessment Study – Salinas and Pajaro Valley Final Report, June 2001, prepared for the counties of Monterey and Santa Cruz and released in early June of 2001 by Applied Survey Research and The Center for Community Advocacy, a large body of comparative statistical data illustrates the current severity of housing and health issues that affect seasonal and migrant farmworkers.  The report found that farmworkers:

 Had the lowest average family income of any other occupational category; $12,825 for Monterey County and $15,006 for Santa Cruz County ;

Less than half of the farmworkers interviewed reported using health or social services for which they may have been eligible;

Only 25% of the farmworkers interviewed had health insurance

32% of those interviewed reported that they went to a hospital emergency room when they or a family member was sick.[25]

 Of the 780 interviews conducted for the report, 567 respondents reported housing problems. Of those interviewed:

 34% said they had leaking faucets or plumbing,

33% said they had cracked, peeling or chipped paint

25% said they had a leaky ceiling.

 These housing conditions do not meet HUD guidelines for decent housing.

Five-Year Strategic Plan on Homelessness 2003-2008 and The 10 Year Plan:

 Professionals who work with homeless people know that there are as many causes of homelessness as there are homeless people.  Homelessness is a symptom of many, complex, converging societal dysfunctions including:

 Wage/housing cost disparity;

Alcoholism;

Physical or mental health issues;

Changing regional employment/unemployment patterns;

Immigration issues; and

The “broken” housing market.

   Some of the Recurring Themes & Ideas:

 Housing, Housing, Housing

Homelessness will exist until there is sufficient housing affordable to those with the lowest incomes.  Accordingly, the number one priority in this community must be to take all action to ensure the preservation of existing and creation of new stable, affordable housing. 

 Closing the Front Door to Homelessness: Prevention

Prevention of homelessness must be a cornerstone of a “Continuum of Care” system.  Most of the people who enter the homeless assistance system receive help and exit the system relatively quickly. But no sooner do people successfully exit the system than others replace them. This is why the number of homeless people does not decline.  If we are going to end homelessness we must prevent people from becoming homeless.

 Local and Regional Engagement and Collaboration

Any successful effort to address homelessness must involve the support and collaboration and full engagement of the entire community, including the County, the Cities, service providers, the business sector, citizens, and people who are homeless or who formerly were homeless.  While unique strategies are targeted to meet the needs of specific localities, coordinating efforts regionally, within the County and within the entire Bay Area, is necessary in order to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the County's efforts.

 Outcomes-Based Accountability

The Santa Cruz County Continuum of Care goes beyond an effort to create a full spectrum homeless assistance system that manages people's experience of homelessness.  This is a long-term plan with specific, measurable, appropriate, realistic, time-bound and stakeholder-centered outcome statements and action steps related to system changes.  The plan is not successful until system change is achieved. [26]

Solutions to the seemingly intractable problems of housing affordability and homelessness in Santa Cruz County are not found easily or without significant effort.  Solutions, however, are available.  There are two documents that offer concrete and thoughtful responses to both housing and homelessness.  Both documents came out of the shared vision, analysis, and time of many Santa Cruz County people who participated in planning, meetings, focus groups, and writing over the past two years.

 It is not possible to do justice to the four documents in the short space available here and we encourage the reader to view them on line by clicking on the footnote links provided in the web-based version of this report, Housing and Homelessness in Santa Cruz County , 2007 at: www.cabinc.org.

   Some Solutions

 The outlook for increasing affordable housing and reducing homelessness in the future in Santa Cruz County has not been good.  Support for existing housing programs at the federal level has been less than enthusiastic. Non-profit ownership of affordable housing is shrinking.  More than a million ownership contracts that maintain affordable rental housing are expiring within a few years. Because it is virtually impossible to build enough housing to reduce the per unit cost for housing either for sale or for rent Santa Cruz county must continue to advocate for housing built with the assistance of the Federal and State governments. 

 Perhaps with the possibility of change coming with the new Congress we may see increased commitment to housing affordability.

 The Santa Cruz County Homeless Action Partnership:

 The Continuum of Care Working Group, renamed the Santa Cruz County Homeless Action Partnership, working with the County and Cities of Santa Cruz County, is responsible, in 2007 for:

1.      Implementing the 2007 homeless count and survey,

2.      Implementing the Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness, and

3.      Maintaining a countywide real-time web-based Homeless Management Information System. 

The CAB Inc Contribution

 The Community Action Board of Santa Cruz County, Inc. (CAB Inc.) will continue to be a partner in implementing solutions that create affordable housing and end homelessness in Santa Cruz County through advocacy and direct service.  CAB Inc. will actively participate in building the political will to create affordable housing by working closely with housing advocates, the Santa Cruz County Homeless Action Partnership, and others, and CAB Inc. will also focus resources through The Shelter Project to provide direct service assistance to people in Santa Cruz County who are living in or near poverty and are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.

 The Shelter Project, between January 1, 2007 and December 31, 2007 will provide direct services to people living in or near poverty who have no other resources available, including:

 Motel Vouchers for people released from the hospitals that have no place to recover and should not be in a shelter or on the street. (180 households including 280 people will be provided 2,300 nights of lodging.)

 Residential Assistance Payments to landlords or mortgage holders to prevent eviction or foreclosure. (250 households including 720 people will be assisted. 50% will still be in their home after 3 months and 45% will still be in their home after 6 months. Those who no longer live in their homes will have an opportunity to find more affordable housing or emergency shelter.)

 A voicemail service so that homeless people or people at risk of homelessness can maintain communication with possible landlords, employers, social workers and family members. (300 households with 500 people will be assisted.  50% will find employment or housing)

 An information and referral service, available by phone and on the internet, 5 days a week from 9am to 5pm that will provide contact information with service providers in Santa Cruz County that can assist people with a wide variety of needs. (2,000 households including 3500 people will call the Shelter Hotline.)

 Conclusion:

 As a community we have done the research, created the reports, written the plans and solved (on paper) the problems related to housing and homelessness.  All of the problems save one.

 Martin Luther King Jr. was right when he said that we know how to end poverty, we have the resources; we simply must build the “will”.  When all is said and done, we must solve the last problem.  We must build the political will to end homelessness, to build and preserve affordable housing, and to end poverty.

 For more on housing and homelessness from CAB Inc. visit our web site at: www.cabinc.org.

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