CAB Housing and Homeless Resources

BACKGROUND: The housing crisis has gone “critical” in Santa Cruz County. The housing market has broken. HUD defines critical housing needs as spending more than half of a family’s income on housing and/or living in severely inadequate housing. Nationally one of every seven families has a critical housing need. In Santa Cruz County half of all households spend 50% of their income on housing, and of those 34.8% pay more than 75%. This includes many working families whose modest incomes cannot meet the cost of decent housing.[1]

Santa Cruz County has had an unprecedented increase in the cost of housing over the last decade. Businesses and services now experience such significant difficulty in finding workers that even positions for police officers, teachers, bus drivers and fire fighters remain unfilled; median income households have been priced out of owning a house, or condo or even a mobile home. Lower-income working people and those on fixed incomes are moving away or crowding into ever-smaller spaces because rents have been raised beyond what they can afford.

As energy costs have risen additional strain has been placed on very low-income households and has brought the housing/property crisis to a head. A significant increase in homelessness has resulted. Over 9% of households in Santa Cruz County earning less than $15,000 per year have experienced homelessness at some time in the last 12 months.[2]

The Salinas and Pajaro Valley’s are two of the richest and most productive agricultural regions in the nation and while the crop production value is almost 2.5 billion dollars, the wages and housing conditions of the farmworkers are substandard and the working conditions are harsh and in many cases hazardous.[3]

Farmworkers have the lowest average family income of any other occupational category: $12,825 for Monterey County and $15,006 for Santa Cruz County. Farmworkers also live in severely inadequate housing; 34% said they had leaking faucets or plumbing, 33% said they had cracked, peeling or chipped paint, 15% said they had a leaky ceiling.[4]

The Community Action Board of Santa Cruz County, Inc. (CAB) declares that since 50% of the households in our county pay more than 50% of their household income on housing and that 9.3% of households earning less than $15,000 per year are homeless annually, therefore, CAB declares that a critical affordable housing crisis exists in Santa Cruz County.

CAB joins with the National Association of Community Action Agencies (NACAA) and CAAs throughout the nation in calling for citizen involvement and civic actions to achieve national, state, and local policies that say:

Affordable Housing Funds: CAB supports additional state funding for affordable housing programs that are designed to meet demonstrated needs. The funding source should be separate from the general fund and should be continuous and reliable. A local Housing Trust Fund should be approved through mechanisms such as a real estate transfer tax that will fund housing affordable to low and very low-income households.

Preservation of Existing Affordable Housing: CAB supports measures to guarantee that existing assisted housing continue to be affordable. This housing must be safe and habitable and displacement must be minimized. CAB supports increased tenant participation in the decision-making and management of their housing.

Housing Must Be Affordable in Perpetuity: CAB supports efforts to purchase or build housing affordable to low and very low income people through organizations that can guarantee that the housing will remain affordable for the longest time possible.

Housing Planning Policies: CAB supports revised planning and zoning to increase use of available space including density, heights, mixed use, etc.

Groups with Special Needs: The CAB supports the increased delivery of affordable housing to traditionally underserved groups like farmworkers, older people, those with physical or psychiatric disabilities and youth.

Build Housing Affordable to Low and Very Low Income People: CAB supports a moratorium on building all but housing affordable to low and very low income people in Santa Cruz County. The moratorium should stay in effect until the number of households in “critical” need of affordable housing is decreased from 50% to 25% countywide.

Shelter for Those Without Housing: CAB supports measures that will prevent homelessness and advocates for greater state participation in the sheltering of homeless people, especially to assist in the cost of operating programs for those who are homeless.

Open a North County Family Shelter – There is no family shelter in North County.

Open a Year-round Shelter – CAB recommends that the Armory or an equivalent facility be found to provide shelter year round in effect extending the capacity currently available only between November and March.

Needed Personal Assistance: CAB recognizes that without access to services people with ongoing money management, drug and/or alcohol problems find it difficult to stay housed. Without help personal issues can complicate rent payment. The CAB supports the funding of counseling services for these people. For those who suffer a mental illness, services should be readily available and adequate housing supplied.

CIVIL RIGHTS

Anti-Camping: as the numbers of people who are homeless have grown, communities have not provided adequate accommodations. Increasingly people who have found a spot in a park, under a bridge or on a riverbank are being ticketed and sometimes their possessions have been confiscated. CAB opposes enforcement of the camping ban since the community has not provided enough housing or emergency or transitional shelter beds.

Property Rights: CAB opposes the confiscation, by police of homeless person’s possessions. The possessions of homeless people must be protected. Homeless people should have the same right to possess property as any other person and their property should be protected. Homeless people should be afforded the same treatment as housed people.

Civilian Review of Police: Homeless people are forced by economic circumstance to break local anti-camping laws. Because homeless people are vulnerable to inappropriate police behavior, however rare, CAB supports a full and independent civilian review of all reports of excessive police force.

High-Risk: People without satisfactory washing facilities suffer a higher percentage of complications related to minor wounds, are more susceptible to infection, go to the hospital more often and stay longer than housed people. CAB advocates for adequate public restrooms, showers and laundry facilities. CAB also advocates for funding for appropriate shelter for homeless people who are being released from the hospital or from the emergency room or the Health Services Agency whose health is threatened by remaining outside or in a shelter that is not designed to allow for 24-hour bed rest.

Aids and Tuberculosis: Two health issues that have begun to impact hospitals significantly and which threaten to require increased resources in the future are Aids and Tuberculosis. Both diseases are significantly linked to Homelessness. CAB acknowledges that homelessness increases the risk of Aids and Tuberculosis and advocates with health providers to educate the community to that fact and to provide emergency shelter for people living with HIV/Aids or TB.

ADDITIONAL CAB BOARD RESOLUTIONS PERTAINING TO HOMELESSNESS FOLLOW WITH DATES OF WHEN THE BOARD APPROVED THE WORDING.

… in any municipality (county or city) where there are more shelterless people than there are shelter beds, that municipality must designate safe and legal suitable facilities to accommodate all shelterless people within the municipality.

The Initiative focuses on amending the existing camping ban and removes the language banning sleeping and use of covers as an illegal action. The references to car camping and the need for winter camping were removed. City Council could regulate sleeping in residential, oceanfront, beach business, or recreational areas. Sleeping will still be banned in these areas without further action from the Council. If the Initiative passes, then a sleeper will be given the option to move to an unregulated area or be given an infraction.

Approved a motion to endorse the petition to amend the sleeping ban in the City of Santa Cruz.

Support for the City of Santa Cruz Homeless Mission Statement - November 1997.

Recognizes the gap between the need and services available for homeless people. It also states that it should be a priority of the City of Santa Cruz to address this need. Additionally, it concurs with The Shelter Project’s survey summary that called for identifying the most vulnerable members of the homeless population and guaranteeing their assistance.

Motion: To direct staff to respond to the Mission Statement by stating: 1.) CAB’s support for the Mission Statement, 2.) That funds not be shifted from existing safety net services to meet this goal, and, 3.) The reference to pregnant women as a vulnerable population should be all pregnant women, not just those in the third trimester.

… in any municipality (county or city) where there are more shelterless people than there are appropriate, safe, shelter beds, the sleeping sections of the camping ordinance should be suspended. Furthermore, parking/camping in a motor vehicle should be permitted in residential off-street driveways and business institution parking spaces with the consent of the owner and occupant for three weeks out of each month.

[1] Santa Cruz County Community Assessment Project, year 6, page 31-34

[2] Ibid

[3] Farmworker Housing and Health Assessment Study – Salinas and Pajaro Valley Final Report, June 2001, (http://sccounty01.co.santa-cruz.ca.us/bds/board/20010605/068.pdf)

[4] Ibid

For More Information Contact:

Community Action Board of Santa Cruz County, Inc.
406 Main Street, Suite 207, Watsonville, CA 95076
Tel: 831/763-2147
FAX: 831/724-3447
eMail: info@cabinc.org

THE SHELTER PROJECT

2001 Statement of Housing Principles

Approved by the CAB Board July 18, 2001

CIVIL RIGHTS

Support for the City of Santa Cruz Homeless Mission Statement - November 1997.