Housing and Homelessness in Santa Cruz County - 2005

 The Problem: A Housing Crisis

It is little wonder then that the high cost of housing continues to be the primary driving force of poverty in California.  Regionally, seven metro Bay areas continually vie for the ignoble title of “Least Affordable Metro Housing Market” of the 191 metro areas in the country.[3]  The impact of that statement is that only an average of 8.3% of median income households living between Salinas and San Francisco in the first quarter of 2002 could purchase a median priced home.

 While the San Francisco metro area has historically held the title of least affordable more often than any other metro area in the country, the Santa Cruz/Watsonville area has come in 2^nd on a regular basis.  In the first quarter of 2002, the most recent data available, Salinas was the least affordable metro area in the country and Santa Cruz/Watsonville was second with San Francisco coming in third.

 Nationally, housing problems have been concentrated among the lowest income renter households. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, the 50 states needed to provide “at least an additional 4.9 million rental units… to the lowest income renter households.”  As a result, low-income families are:

·        becoming homeless,

·        living in overcrowded, , doubled-up conditions,

·        paying precariously high percentages of their incomes for housing, or

·        living in dilapidated housing.[4]  

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.[5]  

People living on fixed incomes or earning lower wages are not only priced out of home ownership, but are also finding it impossible to rent within the inflated Central Coast housing market.  Many schools are reporting lower class attendance because families are moving to areas where housing is more affordable. 

The impact of this migration out of Santa Cruz County can be seen in various ways, such as school enrollments, which continued to decrease between school year 2002/03 and 2003/04.[6]  For young adults the cost of housing is overwhelming. Of those between the ages of 18 and 24, 75% paid half of their income for housing. [7] 

In June 2004, a press release from the California Association of Realtors announced another significant increase in the cost of single-family homes of 25.3%, an increase of 10.8% when compared to the same period a year ago.[8] 

Even for households earning the median income of $75,300[9], the housing market in Santa Cruz County continued to price most homes out of reach in 2003. In May of 2004, only 14% of people living in Santa Cruz County could afford to purchase a median priced home[10], down from 17% one year ago. In addition, the rental market remained inflated in spite of some recent reductions.  

40% of Santa Cruz County households rent.  A report released in December of 2004 by the National Low Income Housing Coalition found that Santa Cruz County was the fifth least affordable rental market in the country following San Mateo, Marin, San Francisco and Ventura counties.[11]  

Santa Cruz County, as part of a general Central Coast housing trend, had an unprecedented increase in the cost of housing between 1999 and 2004.  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.   

The Consequences: Homelessness

At some time in the last year, 3% of households in Santa Cruz County have experienced homelessness, according to the Community Assessment Project Year 10, 2004 Report[12]  (CAP), a telephone survey of currently housed Santa Cruz County residents. That is slightly less than what was reported in the previous year, (3.2%) but more than double the percentage reported in 2001.  Youth 18-to-24 years of age were much more likely to have been homeless in the previous year (7.2%) down slightly from 9.1% in 2002 and 9.2% in 2001.  From the CAP 2003 Report we can project that the number of county residents who were housed at the time of the survey in April 2003, but who had experienced homelessness in the past year, was nearly 7,800. 

But that 7,800 number does not include the county residents who were homeless in April 2003 when the survey was conducted, and therefore were not reflected in the CAP 2003 findings. It is believed that the number of people homeless at the time of the CAP year 9 survey in April of 2003 was probably closer to the number of homeless people counted in the last scientific homeless census taken in the year 2000.  That number, 3,293 in 2000, was considered a conservative figure at the time and is probably still a conservative figure[13].  

In addition, a 25-city survey released in December 2003 by the U.S. Conference of Mayors found that requests for emergency shelter assistance grew an average of 13 percent.[14]  It is plausible, then, to add the 3,293 who were homeless at the time of the CAP 9 survey to the 7,800 who were housed at the time of the survey, but said that they had been homeless in the previous year. This will provide a potentially more accurate total number of people who had been homeless in Santa Cruz County at some time in the 12 months prior to the CAP 9 2003 survey. 

Using those data, we can more accurately project that as many as 11,099 people may have been homeless at some time in the last year in Santa Cruz County, a slight decrease from our estimate a year ago, but a sharp increase from the 8,558 reported in the Santa Cruz County Homeless 2000 Census and Needs Assessment Comprehensive Report[15].   

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, most 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 cycle in and out of homelessness.[16]  

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.  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.[17] 

The Working Poor

One-third of homeless people are working, and one-tenth are working 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.[18]    

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.[19]  

Alternative housing such as camping overnight in the State Park system reduced options further when the possibility of parking and camping overnight for more than 30 days was prohibited. As a result of the loss of this un-official but important resource to people who are temporarily without shelter there has been a net loss of legal emergency shelter available in Santa Cruz County. 

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 a 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 reported using health or social services for which they may have been eligible;

·        only 25% had health insurance

·        32% of those interviewed reported that they went to a hospital emergency room when they or a family member was sick.[20]

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. 

Some Solutions 

The outlook for increasing affordable housing and reducing homelessness in the future in Santa Cruz County is not good.  Support for existing housing programs at the federal level is 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. And to make matters worse, the Section 8 voucher program may be replaced with block grants to the states,[21] or, according to The New York Times, congress may continue funding Section 8 programs at the expense of other housing programs that support elderly, disabled, and poor people.[22]  

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 two 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, 2005 at: www.cabinc.org. Click on “Publications and Videos.” 

The first is called “The Housing Element: A Progressive Approach,”[23] produced by the Progressive Housing Advocates Task Force (PHAT). PHAT is a broad-based coalition of individuals and community groups dedicated to the development of affordable housing for low and very low-income people throughout Santa Cruz County.  PHAT includes representatives of environmental groups, advocates for the disabled, homeless persons, farmworkers, children and seniors, as well as low-wage workers who live and work in Santa Cruz County. 

The second is called, “Five-Year Strategic Plan on Homelessness 2003-2008”[24] created by the Santa Cruz County Continuum of Care Coordinating Group (COC) now called the Santa Cruz County Homeless Action Partnership.  The Plan seeks to create a comprehensive and coordinated system of affordable housing and support services for the prevention, reduction and eventual end of homelessness.  The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors provided staff support from the Human Resources Agency, and along with the cities of Santa Cruz, Scotts Valley, Watsonville and Capitola, funded the consulting services of HomeBase, a nonprofit technical service provider specializing in issues related to homelessness.  The COC brought together many people and organizations that make up the countywide system of services available to people who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.     

The Housing Element: A Progressive Approach 

The Progressive Housing Advocates stated goal is to facilitate the building of housing—a lot of housing—for low, very low and extremely low-income households. Released in January of 2003, the report was the culmination of a year-and-a-half of meetings, discussions, trainings, writing and re-writing. The intention was to articulate local land-use policy ideals that integrated progressive values pertaining to the protection of the natural environment and the “Green Belt,” supporting and maintaining our strong agricultural base, and building and preserving housing that is affordable to the diverse populations that live in Santa Cruz County. The short term goal of the group was to insure that current efforts to write local county and city housing elements will result in a maximum of housing opportunities for low, very low and extremely low-income households by: 

·        removing “discriminatory barriers

·        planning for housing development at increased densities, on existing transportation lines,

·        employing green building materials and practices, and

·        incorporating childcare, supportive services, and access for mobility impaired people in its design. 

Specifically, the report calls for the following, and more:  

·               Re-zoning of all centrally located, residentially-zoned land to urban high density, allowing residential uses as part of all commercial and industrial development, identifying parking lots as central sites, and permitting second-unit development with regulations identical to those of other home additions. 

·               Removing unreasonable height restrictions and leveling discriminatory fees, which are currently far higher per square foot for smaller, more affordable units than they are for larger unit development.  

·               Preserving existing affordable housing through amnesty for illegal units, targeted code enforcement tied to rehabilitation funding, providing emergency rental assistance for up to 60 days, and adoption of just cause eviction, rent stabilization, and rent shock ordinances to prevent existing rental housing from becoming even less affordable. 

·               Developing a housing trust fund to marshal available funds from public and private sources for use in the rehabilitation and development of housing affordable to, and designed to meet the needs of, low-wage workers, disabled persons, homeless households, farmworkers, single and teen-parent households, and construction using environmentally sound building practices. 

Five-Year Strategic Plan On Homelessness 2003-2008 

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. 

Likewise then, solutions to homelessness must, of necessity, be as complex and varied as the causes. Two years in the making and 80 pages later, the five-year plan, a product of the Continuum of Care Working Group, responds 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. 

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. [25]

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, this year, for: 

1)      Implementing the Five Year Plan,

2)      Conducting the first of a series of yearly homeless counts,

3)      Preparing a Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness, and

4)      Creating 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.) is a partner in implementing solutions that create affordable housing and end homelessness in Santa Cruz County through advocacy and direct service.  CAB Inc. actively participates in building the political will to create affordable housing by working closely with the Progressive Housing Advocates, The Affordable Housing Advocates, the Santa Cruz County Homeless Action Partnership, and others. CAB Inc. also focuses 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. 

In addition, CAB Inc. works closely with “housers” in the community to ensure that the Housing Elements of the General Plan’s of the cities and the county reflect the values of the Progressive Housing Advocates Approach and then bring pressure upon the elected officials to implement the development of housing affordable to people of limited means. 

CAB Inc. also works with homeless advocates and service providers, countywide and regionally, to implement the solutions to homelessness outlined in the Five-Year Strategic Plan. 

Year 2005 Goals 

Between January 1, and December 31, 2005, The Shelter Project will provide the following direct services to people living in or near poverty who have no other resources available: 

1)      Motel Vouchers for people released from the hospital that have no place to recover and should not be in a shelter or on the street. (159 households including 248 people will be provided 2,500 nights of lodging.)

2)      Residential Assistance Payments to landlords or mortgage holders to prevent eviction or foreclosure. (275 households including 850 people will be assisted. 60% 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.)

3)      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. (400 households with 500 people will be assisted.  50% will find employment or housing)

4)      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. (2,100 households including 4,000 people will call the Shelter Hotline.) 

Perhaps the most enlivening aspect of this most difficult issue is the fact that over the past few years we as a community have done the research, created the reports, written the plans and solved the problems of housing and homelessness.  All of the problems save one. 

The late Martin Luther King Jr. said that we know how to end poverty—we have the resources; we simply must build the “will.”

January 3, 2005 

For more on housing and homelessness from CAB Inc. visit our web site at: www.cabinc.org and click on “Publications and Videos”.