Lookout: Tensions start to flare as sides submit dueling Santa Cruz housing measures

Even in an off year, city of Santa Cruz voters are poised to be divided by yet another heated ballot measure campaign.  

In spring of 2024, voters had to decide whether they agreed with Measure M’s effort to cap the heights of new buildings, or side with growth and development advocates. Then, in the fall, more than $2 million poured into the community as Big Soda attempted to fight Measure Z’s proposed sugar-sweetened beverage tax. 

Now, this fall, the dueling factions behind two affordable housing measures plan to stake yet another battle in the public square, as the county’s realtors and its housing advocates work to persuade voters to side with them. 

This week marked a major milestone in that effort. On Wednesday, the Santa Cruz County Association of Realtors submitted 6,051 signatures in support of placing its Workforce Housing and Climate Protection Act on the Nov. 4 ballot. On Thursday, the group led by Santa Cruz Mayor Fred Keeley and Housing Santa Cruz County’s Elaine Johnson submitted 4,170 signatures in support of balloting its Workforce Housing and Affordability Act. 

Each petition needs 3,620 signatures from registered city of Santa Cruz voters to qualify for the ballot, and each side says they used their own signature verification system to ensure the submitted names are valid. The county clerk now has 30 days to certify the petitions. If both measures qualify, the Santa Cruz City Council is scheduled to vote at its June 24 meeting to place each on the ballot. In November, the measure with the highest support over 50% will win. 

The similarly named acts each propose a citywide parcel tax — a flat annual fee levied on all land parcels throughout the city of Santa Cruz — as well as a real estate transfer tax — a fee charged when a piece of real property transfers ownership.  

Lookout previously pored through each measure to highlight the myriad technical differences, but broadly, the measure proposed by Keeley and Johnson puts forward a greater and broader tax and expects to bring in around $5 million per year toward affordable housing and homelessness initiatives. The realtors’ proposed taxes are lower and more narrow, and thus expect to bring in a fraction of their rivals’. 

The realtors have also been upfront that their measure was designed only to defeat the Keeley/Johnson proposal, which was the product of an intermittent, 18-month shaping process with different sectors of the community.  

On Thursday, Keeley and Johnson hosted an event outside Santa Cruz City Hall to mark the submission of their signatures. The event’s fiery rhetoric offered a preview of what Santa Cruz voters are likely to hear as the campaigns heat up over the summer. 

“Our quarrel is that a narrow special interest didn’t get their way and has decided that the way to get their way is to scuttle a proposal that was built for two years by the entire community,” Keeley said. 

After the event, Keeley, who liberally used the phrase “dirty political trick” throughout the hour to describe the opposing effort, said the realtors’ proposal would “have no impact on affordable housing.” 

Victor Gomez, the Santa Cruz County Association of Realtors’ director of government affairs and lone architect of the group’s housing measure, said he was “taken aback that the proponents of the other initiative are against voters having options.” He also pushed against the claim that his measure won’t raise a meaningful sum for affordable housing. 

“We had the option of making our parcel tax as low as a dollar per year, but we didn’t do that,” Gomez said. “We’re able to save people money with a lower [parcel] tax than Keeley that still generates some decent revenue,” which he estimated at $1 million per year. The realtors’ most significant qualm with the Keeley/Johnson measure is the real estate transfer tax, which SCCAR is “philosophically” against, according to the group’s president, Renee Mello. However, in order to compete directly against that measure at the ballot box, the realtors’ measure needed to mirror Keeley and Johnson’s in kind. Gomez referred to SCCAR’s proposed real estate transfer tax as a “mansion tax” since fees kick in only for home sales of at least $4 million. The Keeley/Johnson measure’s tax kicks in for home sales of at least $1.8 million. 

Gomez described SCCAR’s summer campaign strategy as “money, money, money,” as in, relentless fundraising to ensure the group has enough resources to launch an effective campaign by late summer. 

During her group’s submission event on Thursday, Johnson said supporters needed to prepare for a battle. 

“This fight is not over,” Johnson said. “We made it this far together, and we’re going to need that same energy and commitment to get this to pass in November.”

Santa Cruz Sentinel: Workforce Housing Affordability Act campaign turns in signatures

SANTA CRUZ — Housing advocates, local leaders and community members gathered in the courtyard of Santa Cruz City Hall on a warm and sunny Thursday to commemorate the handing off of more than 4,000 signatures to the Santa Cruz city clerk to place the Workforce Housing Affordability Act tax measure on the ballot this fall.

“We are here to celebrate a huge milestone on our path to bring more workforce housing to the city of Santa Cruz,” said Housing Santa Cruz County Executive Director Elaine Johnson at city hall. “This measure represents more than a funding mechanism. It’s a reflection of what’s possible when our community comes together. We’ve built a broad coalition of housing advocates, labor, educators, business leaders and neighbors, standing shoulder to shoulder to make sure the people who power our city can actually live here.”

Johnson has served as a champion of the measure for about two years alongside others including Santa Cruz Mayor Fred Keeley, who discussed the initiative’s evolution from the series of community meetings held in 2023 to the campaign’s official launch in January.

“It’s been a long journey,” said Keeley. “This didn’t just begin a couple of years ago. It began many years ago. This community has been searching for a solution to housing affordability for decades, decades. There have been good faith efforts to get a measure to the ballot that could get the support of a majority of the voters. There were at least three previous measures.”

Keeley said that figuring out the right formula for an affordable housing tax measure that could be supported by a majority of city residents has been difficult but by consulting with the community and local stakeholders before deciding on the details of the measure, he believes they struck a balance with the Workforce Housing Affordability Act.

“Everyone was in that conversation and everyone who was in it, made it a better product,” said Keeley. “Even the folks that don’t support it made it a better product, a much better product.”

Eden Housing CEO Linda Mandolini, Santa Cruz Mayor Fred Keeley and Housing Santa Cruz County Executive Director Elaine Johnson celebrated on Thursday after supporters of Workforce Housing Affordability Act turned in petition signatures to place the measure on the Nov. 2025 ballot. (Shmuel Thaler – Santa Cruz Sentinel)

The Workforce Housing Solutions Act has two components. If the initiative passes with a majority vote in November, it would enact an annual parcel tax of $96 per parcel in the city of Santa Cruz. The initiative also includes a real property transfer tax for homes sold at the price of $1.8 million or more. The initiative is estimated to raise $5 million each year for the city’s affordable housing trust fund and would sunset in 20 years.

Keeley also mentioned a similar city ballot initiative called the Workforce Housing and Climate Protection Act, which was created by members of the Santa Cruz County Association of Realtors and which Keeley calls a “dirty political trick.” The Realtors’ association campaign handed off about 6,000 signatures to the city clerk Wednesday, according to the group’s Government Affairs Director Victor Gomez.

“We are excited to have our initiative officially qualified and look forward to a strong campaign,” Gomez told the Sentinel. “As we met and discussed our initiative, folks are thrilled at the opportunity to fund improvements and safety upgrades to the wharf and the possibility of actually being able to purchase an affordable home, instead of just more rental housing. Unlike the other proponents, we have planned to build for sale, not only for rent units. Additionally, we believe exempting seniors over 55 is critical, as many are already struggling to make ends meet.’

At city hall, using a visual aid, Keeley said that the Workforce Housing Affordability Act campaign gathered about 7,000 signatures in total but after verifying them with the help of former mayor and political consultant Bruce Van Allen, handed off 4,170 to the city clerk. The campaign needed to gather 3,620 signatures to make the ballot.

“I have worked on affordable housing and as a tenant advocate for a long time,” said Van Allen. “When a community can commit a serious contribution from its local resources, that really brings in a lot more money. It leverages the state and federal money, foundation money and tax credits. A community either has to provide the land, which we don’t really have, or the money to show that local commitment. And so this just gets us in the good graces with all of the sources from outside of the community to make a project affordable.”

Following the ceremony at city hall, community members enjoyed cake in the courtyard and further discussed how the revenue gathered through the measure will help leverage additional funds for affordable housing developments such as Santa Cruz Planning Commissioner Pete Kennedy and local “land title guru” Jim Weller.

“This gives us that seed money, which is critical,” said Kennedy. “There are so many funding sources for these jobs. I was at an Eden Housing grand opening last week and there were 12 funding sources. So if we can put some taxpayer money in and multiply it by 10, that’s good times.”

Weller mentioned that the seed money provided by the tax initiative can also be used to secure the issuance of a bond.

“So, $10 million could secure $100 million in a 30-year bond measure,” said Weller. “That’s real money. You can do something with $100 million.”

Now that the initiative has tentatively made it on the ballot after years of effort, Johnson said she feels a sense of relief and told the Sentinel she was going to celebrate with a meal at her favorite restaurant after the ceremony.

“You don’t know how much you’re carrying until you let it down,” said Johnson. “This signature gathering piece has been six months in the making and there were no days off. Handing in those petitions to Bonnie (Bush), it really felt freeing. I feel confident that we will qualify and that in itself is a victory.”

KSBW: Santa Cruz affordable housing initiative gains momentum with thousands of signatures

Supporters of a new affordable housing initiative in Santa Cruz County have submitted thousands of signatures in hopes of qualifying for the November ballot, aiming to increase affordable housing units, prevent evictions, and provide more access to funding.

The initiative gathered over 4,000 signatures, surpassing the necessary requirement to qualify for the November 2025 ballot. "Signature gathering is no small thing, if it wasn't for our community, if it wasn't for our volunteers, we wouldn't be standing here right now," said a housing official involved in the effort.

Housing officials have spent the last two years working on this measure, with involvement from city and county leaders. "As we all know Santa Cruz is the most expensive place to live in the nation, it's the most expensive in a sense of rental markets so we need to continue to build more homes so that people from all walks of life, all different income levels can be able to live here," said another official.

Funds from this measure will be managed by the City of Santa Cruz's Affordable Housing Trust Fund, which works to preserve housing for Santa Cruz residents with low-income levels. "What we got here is the opportunity we think we got it right with the community, and so we believe that by submitting these signatures, we have a real opportunity in November to make a serious, meaningful, sustainable commitment to affordable housing," said a representative of the initiative.

One volunteer who dedicated her time to gathering signatures noticed mixed responses from residents, with some being enthusiastic about it and others less so. "Sometimes it took a little bit of a conversation to educate on what this measure is trying to do and how it will help us get to affordable housing," she said. "Honestly, more often times than not, that will yield a signature."

If approved by voters, the measure will raise approximately $5 million annually for a period of 20 years.

Press Release: Affordable Housing Initiative Campaign Reaches Major Milestone for Nov. Ballot: Petition Signatures Submitted

Measure aims to increase the supply of workforce housing, prevent evictions, preserve senior housing, establish shelters and gain new access to state and federal housing funds 

(May 15, 2025) SANTA CRUZ, Calif. — Gathered to celebrate in the courtyard at Santa Cruz City Hall, the Workforce Housing Affordability Act campaign, joined by supporters and volunteers, today announced 6,923 petition signatures were gathered, with 3,620 required to be verified by elections officials to qualify for the November 2025 ballot.  

Responding to the ongoing and acute housing crisis in the City of Santa Cruz, a broad coalition of local housing, education, labor and business advocates and leaders, convened by nonprofit Housing Santa Cruz County, created the Workforce Housing Affordability Act. The Act will deliver needed community benefits, including: 

• Community investment to construct new homes for lower-income workers, especially downtown and in transit-rich areas in the City of Santa Cruz. 

• Funding to prevent evictions, preserve senior housing and establish housing-focused shelters.  

• Greater access to state and federal workforce housing and supportive housing funds. 

• Reduction in vehicle miles traveled by workers by locating housing closer to jobs, which helps reduce production of greenhouse gases by motor vehicles – the leading contributor to climate change in Santa Cruz County. 

Funds raised by the measure will be managed through the City of Santa Cruz’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund, which has an outstanding track record of creating and preserving housing for Santa Cruz residents who have a lower-than-average income. In the past five years, the fund has helped create approximately 400 affordable apartments. 

The measure is supported by local organizations and elected officials including: State Senator John Laird, Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, Assemblymember Gail Pellerin, Santa Cruz Mayor Fred Keeley, Santa Cruz City Councilmembers Sonja Brunner, Shebreh Kalantari-Johnson, Scott Newsome and Gabriela Trigueiro, and County Supervisors Justin Cummings, Manu Koenig, Monica Martinez and Felipe Hernandez; Communities Organized for Relational Power and Action (COPA), Eden Housing, Housing for the People, Housing Santa Cruz County, Mid-Pen Housing, Monterey Bay Economic Partnership (MBEP), Temple Beth El and UCSC Student Housing Coalition.  

The measure will raise approximately $5 million annually for a period of 20 years through an innovative hybrid revenue model that includes a real estate transfer tax that will apply to property sales of $1.8 million or more, and a modest parcel tax. The measure will include parcel tax exemptions for seniors and low-income homeowners, as well as real estate transfer tax exemptions for families transferring ownership of property within an immediate family.   

Learn more at www.workforcehousingnow.net.  

### 

Press Release: Anti-affordable Housing Initiative Launched by Local Realtors Association

Realtors’ measure aims to trick Santa Cruz voters with a ballot measure that in truth does little-to-nothing to address affordable housing crisis

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. — The Workforce Housing Affordability Act campaign today issued the following statements by Housing Santa Cruz County Executive Director Elaine Johnson, Santa Cruz Mayor Fred Keeley and former Santa Cruz City Councilmember Sandy Brown in response to an anti-affordable housing initiative that has been filed with the City of Santa Cruz by a lobbyist and a representative of the Santa Cruz County Association of Realtors:

Elaine Johnson, Executive Director, Housing Santa Cruz County:

“Today we learned the Santa Cruz County Association of Realtors has decided to place a counter measure on the ballot that will result in virtually no affordable housing.

Without any community input, the Realtors association decided to devise a ballot measure that, at first glance, looks remarkably similar to the one we have already launched for voters to consider this November. But when you look even a little closer, it doesn’t take long to understand their proposed measure is actually anti-affordable housing while doing nothing to support first-time homebuyers and leaving renters more vulnerable to rent increases.

Our campaign’s Workforce Housing Affordability Act was designed over a two-year open transparent process with participation of dozens of our hardworking community members who are determined to help more folks in our community to access to more affordable housing.

Our campaign is working in the best interest of the entire community. We’re proud to have earned the support of a broad range of elected officials, nonprofit affordable housing organizations, and many more.”

Fred Keeley, Santa Cruz Mayor:

“The cynically crafted title for the Realtors association’s measure claims a focus on affordable housing and includes both a property tax and a real estate transfer tax (just as does the Workforce Housing Affordability Act), but in truth their measure is an empty hoax that includes enough poison pills to fill a prescription bottle.

In fact, their proposed property tax exempts the majority of property owners, leaving few to pay the annual tax. Their proposed real estate transfer tax applies only to transactions that are over $4 million in Santa Cruz, of which in 2024 there were just 4. This compares to 289 transactions that would be covered under our proposal. Their measure cuts in half the life of the revenue source, dramatically limiting the time available to address our local affordable housing crisis. Their measure also takes aim at renters, who make up the majority of residents in Santa Cruz, by eliminating protections for renters that are included in the Workforce Housing Affordability Act.

The Santa Cruz County Association of Realtors complained in a recent op-ed that the Workforce Housing Affordability Act’s property tax and real estate transfer tax amounts to a “double tax,” only to then propose both a property tax and a real estate transfer tax. This willingness to embrace such hypocrisy is at the heart of what makes their measure a cynical play against local voters. That cynicism is also on full display with their attempt to entice voters with the promise of funding for the Santa Cruz Wharf and West Cliff Drive, even though funding for both has already been identified.

In that same recent op-ed, the Realtors association also implied they have been collaborative during the public process that resulted in our Workforce Housing Affordability Act. However, after 19 months, the realtors were the only party to oppose the community consensus that emerged. In an effort to kill that community consensus, the realtors' out-of-town lobbyist drafted their deceptive measure.

We don’t need the self-interested real estate lobby working in secret to engineer the future of affordable housing in Santa Cruz. Our community should quickly reject this cynical and hypocritical attempt to pull the wool over Santa Cruz voters’ eyes.”

Sandy Brown, former Santa Cruz City Councilmember:

“It is deeply disappointing that the Santa Cruz County Association of Realtors, representing an industry that has not offered anything to address our critical need for affordable housing and has opposed previous efforts, is now trying to undermine a community-driven campaign to establish a local, dedicated funding stream to address our affordable housing crisis. They are instead choosing to sow division at a time when local collaboration is critical as local workers and families are being pushed out due to exorbitant housing costs and federal funding for housing is being gutted.”

Key Endorsements of the Workforce Housing Affordability Act:

State Senator John Laird; Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas; Assemblymember Gail Pellerin; County Supervisors Justin Cummings, Manu Koenig, Monica Martinez and Felipe Hernandez; Santa Cruz Mayor Fred Keeley; Santa Cruz Vice Mayor Shebreh Kalantari-Johnson; Santa Cruz City Councilmembers Sonya Brunner, Scott Newsome and Gabrielle Trigueiro; former Mayor Ryan Coonerty; former Santa Cruz Mayor Mike Rotkin; former Santa Cruz City Councilmember Sandy Brown; County Board of Education Trustee and former Santa Cruz Mayor Bruce Van Allen; Former Mayor and Realtor Hilary Bryant; nonprofit Housing Santa Cruz County; nonprofit Eden Housing; nonprofit Mid-Pen Housing; nonprofit Housing for the People; nonprofit Monterey Bay Economic Partnership (MBEP); Communities Organized for Relational Power and Action (COPA); UCSC Student Housing Coalition; and Temple Beth El.

Learn more at www.workforcehousingnow.net.

###

Lookout Santa Cruz: I support a proposed tax measure for the city of Santa Cruz in November

Santa Cruz Mayor Fred Keeley at a January kickoff event for the Workforce Housing Affordability Act tax measures. Credit: Kevin Painchaud / Lookout Santa Cruz

I support Santa Cruz Mayor Fred Keeley’s proposed tax measure.

I know taxes are unpopular, but we must address the homelessness and affordable housing crisis in our community. The measure – currently gathering signatures for a November 2025 ballot – consists of two taxes set to sunset after 20 years. The first, a real property transfer tax, will raise the most money and will bring in more funding every year it is in place. It will tax the price of property sold for more than $1.8 million in the City of Santa Cruz. Property sales within an immediate family will be exempt from this tax.

Keeley spent the past two years working this tax out with leaders in the real estate industry and, rather than targeting these leaders as the enemy, he invited their participation in shaping the measure. They agreed that our community has an affordable housing crisis and that they would not actively oppose this measure, even if they also wouldn’t actively support it. But, within days of the signature-gathering kickoff for the measure, the Santa Cruz County Association of Realtors shocked Keeley by voting to oppose it.

Still, this is not the same as agreeing to mount a well-funded effort to defeat the measure, and only time will tell if the representatives of the real estate industry who negotiated the details of the tax measure will be able to restrain the rapacious avarice of their colleagues.

They agreed on the minimum $1.8 million sales value to be taxed, as discussed above, and the increasing percentage of tax that would be applied as the value of sales increased. A .05% tax will be applied to properties selling for $1.8 million to $2.5 million. Properties that sell for more than $2.5 million, but less than $3.5 million, will be taxed 1%, and properties that sell for more than $3.5 million, but for $4.5 million or less, will pay a 1.5% tax. Properties that sell in excess of $4.5 million would pay a 2% tax, but with a cap of $200,000.

That means the following things are true.

This is a progressive tax. This tax will not affect many residents of Santa Cruz. This tax has a fairly modest impact on the high price of properties to which it is applied. The absolute amount of funding for affordable housing that this tax will raise will go up each year due to the inevitable inflation of housing prices in our region. Even in its early years of implementation, this tax should raise between $5 million and $7 million per year.

The City of Berkeley, whose city council passed a property transfer tax in the early 1970s, before a public vote was required for such taxes, took in $24.8 million last year from its tax.

The other tax that would be included in the November 2025 measure is a $96 annual parcel tax on real property in the City of Santa Cruz, or about $8 a month. This amount will not increase one penny over the next 20 years. The tax, while not progressive, has a number of important impacts.

First of all, it allows everyone in Santa Cruz to make a contribution to addressing our affordable housing crisis – not just complain about it. It is important because we can know exactly how much this tax will raise over the next 20 years, unlike the property transfer tax that depends on an unknowable number of sales and sales prices. It is also a funding stream that can be bonded and brought forward so our community can begin addressing our affordable housing crisis now and not wait for future years, when the larger income from the property transfer tax will actually be in the city’s coffers.

The parcel tax part of the proposal has important exemptions for qualifying low-income households, low-income senior households, affordable housing projects, schools, churches and other entities that are otherwise exempt from property taxes. Unlike some earlier attempt at housing measures, this one was well thought out before signature-gathering began.

I am somewhat skeptical of the provision in the measure that outlaws landlords passing the parcel tax on to their tenants, because I don’t know how, without rent control, it could actually be enforced. But I believe that the small amount of the parcel tax at $8 a month, whether passed on or not, will be less of a burden than the funding provided to the low and moderate-income community will be a benefit.

Where will the tax money go?

None of the funds can be used to help subsidize a developer’s cost in meeting the affordable housing requirements they already have to meet because of various city ordinances. The funds can be used only to increase the number and affordability of units built above those statutory requirements.

Eighty-seven percent of the funds must be spent on affordable housing for those in our community who meet the requirements for low-, very low- or extremely low-income families. That means the housing will have to be affordable to households that make less than 60%, 30%, or even a lower percentage of the median household income in our county, which is currently $107,720. In other words, the housing constructed with this funding would have to be affordable by people making $70,000, or $35,000, or less a year. This part of the funding will be deposited in the city’s housing trust fund to support affordable housing projects.

Although it is possible that some of the homeless individuals in our community could get into housing if the funds are combined with social service funds for things like residential mental health, drug or alcohol treatment programs, most of the funding would support what is known as “workforce housing” – housing for teachers, city and county workers, police officers and firefighters.

Ten percent of the funding from the two taxes in the proposed measure may be used to help people who currently have housing from falling into homelessness. Many low-income families depend on two or more jobs to be able to pay their rents and if even one member of the family loses a job, the family can quickly find themselves on the street.

The city and county of Santa Cruz currently maintain a $150,000 fund to provide temporary rent loans when these situations occur. The proposed new measure would help provide up to $500,000 to make sure that we don’t increase homelessness while we are trying to address it.

Only 3% of the funds raised by the proposed measure can be spent on administration.

To be clear, the proposed measure will not provide sufficient funding to build housing that is affordable to people working at minimum-wage jobs like baristas or dishwashers employed at fewer than 40 hours a week. (An exception might be such young people who are either couples or willing to share small apartments with friends.) But this measure will provide affordable workforce housing for a huge number of individuals who currently have to commute long distances to work and provide essential services in our community.

The funds from this proposal include a preference for local residents and local construction workers to build them.

Given how little financial burden this proposed tax measure places on any of us, that is a goal worth accomplishing.

Santa Cruz Local: Ballot measure aims to build more affordable housing in Santa Cruz

Elaine Johnson, executive director of Housing Santa Cruz County, speaks at a Jan. 16 event for a campaign to fund affordable housing. (Jesse Kathan — Santa Cruz Local)

SANTA CRUZ >> A signature-gathering effort kicked off Thursday to put a new parcel tax and property transfer tax on the Nov. 4 ballot in the city of Santa Cruz. The taxes aim to raise $5 million annually for affordable housing and homelessness prevention.

The proposed Workforce Housing Affordability Act needs 3,620 signatures to qualify for the November ballot. It would need more than 50% of the vote to be adopted. Santa Cruz Mayor Fred Keeley, leaders of the community organization Housing Santa Cruz County, and a coalition of housing activists and local professionals are leading the effort.

“There’s still people unhoused, still people struggling to pay the rent,” said Elaine Johnson, executive director of Housing Santa Cruz County. After nearly two years of community meetings with attendees across the political spectrum, “we came up with a little something that everybody was wanting,” Johnson said.

“This is a community problem that needs community-level support,” said Marvin Christie, president and co-owner of Felton-based real estate firm Anderson Christie Inc. “Asking property owners to share in that load seems like a reasonable request.”

How much is the tax and who would pay?

Voters in many cities and counties across the country, including Berkeley and Santa Clara County, have approved local housing bonds to pay for new below-market-rate homes.

The proposal for Santa Cruz is different. Instead of borrowing a lump sum, the city would accumulate money over time through a parcel tax and a property transfer tax.

The proposed $96 parcel tax, unlike a bond, can legally exempt certain property owners. The ballot measure includes parcel tax exemptions for:

• Low-income households earning below 60% of the area median income according to state guidelines.

• Seniors age 65 and older who earn below 80% the area median income.

• 100% below-market-rate housing developments.

• Schools and religious organizations.

The ballot measure also proposes a property transfer tax paid by sellers.

Property transfer taxes have been used elsewhere to fund affordable housing, although Keeley said he doesn’t know of any that have been paired with a parcel tax. In Los Angeles, a 4% “mansion tax” approved in 2022 is assessed on the sale of properties over $5 million to fund affordable housing and homelessness prevention.

The proposed measure for the city of Santa Cruz would kick in for properties sold for more than $1.8 million. The median listing price for homes in Santa Cruz is $1.6 million, according to aggregated real estate listings.

The tiered tax rate would increase for higher-value properties. For example, the seller of a $2 million property would pay a 0.5% tax, or $10,000. A $5 million sale would be assessed a 2% tax, or $100,000. The maximum transfer tax for any property would be $200,000.

Both taxes would start July 2026 and expire July 2047.

How would affordable housing be built? 

About 90% of the money would go towards the city’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund to pay for the creation and protection of below-market-rate housing. 

The city wouldn’t directly build homes, but would offer loans or grants to nonprofit and for-profit developers or other groups. For example, the fund could offer a loan to a developer to buy land for affordable housing, or give a grant for a nonprofit to buy existing apartments and rent them below-market rate.

The money could also be used to preserve existing affordable housing, renovate below-market-rent apartment buildings or offer loans for down payments to first-time homeowners.

The measure allocates 10% of the money for measures to reduce homelessness, including permanent supportive housing, transitional housing and shelters. It could also include temporary assistance to help keep people in their existing homes. 

Although the city has made progress in reducing homelessness, those efforts have been hampered by the number of people who continue to fall into homelessness. 

If one member of a household loses their job and is at risk of eviction, “The cost to us and to them to get back out of homelessness is enormous,” Keeley said. “What if instead we said, ‘Here’s a check for your rent this month. Use that period of time, go find that other job, and we’ll just keep you where you are.’”

Santa Cruz created its Affordable Housing Trust Fund in 2003. It receives money from sales of city property and in-lieu fees from developers who do not build the required amount of affordable housing.

How was the tax developed?

In 2018, then-Santa Cruz County Supervisor Keeley championed Measure H, which would have allowed the county to borrow $140 million for affordable housing and pay back the loan with a property tax increase. Although the measure was defeated, it won more than the required 66% vote within the city of Santa Cruz. Keeley said the results speak to the willingness of voters in the city to put money towards affordable housing, even if it means higher taxes. 

During his campaign for Santa Cruz mayor in 2022, Keeley vowed to propose another measure to fund affordable housing. But it took two years of community meetings and collaboration with nonprofit Housing Santa Cruz County to work out the details.

The challenge was to craft a tax that would raise money for affordable housing and be palatable to voters.

Some attendees at the community meetings spoke out against parcel taxes as a regressive tax that disproportionately affects lower-income taxpayers. Others said they didn’t like a real estate transfer tax. To compromise, the coalition created versions of both taxes that most attendees could accept. 

“We were trying to accommodate different values and belief systems in coming together, and that’s what this represents,” Keeley said.

Santa Cruz Together, which formed to oppose rent control proposal Measure M in 2018 and campaigned against the empty-home tax Measure N in 2022, announced in a Jan. 16 newsletter that the organization will be neutral on the proposed measure.

Lookout Santa Cruz: Before the headlines, a snapshot from downtown Santa Cruz

Santa Cruz Mayor Fred Keeley speaks to the crowd at Thursday's kickoff event for a housing funding measure supporters aim to get on the November ballot.

After nearly two years of discussion and negotiation, a group of Santa Cruz politicians and housing advocates on Thursday began circulating a petition for a measure to fund housing that it hopes to place on the ballot in November.

The group officially introduced the petition for what it’s calling the Workforce Housing Affordability Act with a sizable event outside the new, 65-unit affordable housing complex at 525 Cedar St. in downtown Santa Cruz. 

The proposed funding measure could raise around $5 million per year, deriving revenue from a pair of new taxes: an annual $96 tax on every individual parcel throughout the city and a 0.5-2% real estate transfer tax tacked onto home sales greater than $1.8 million.

The petition will need nearly 4,000 signatures from city of Santa Cruz voters over the next 180 days to qualify for the November ballot. – Christopher Neely

Santa Cruz Sentinel: Signature-gathering campaign launches for Santa Cruz workforce housing initiative

Executive Director of Housing Santa Cruz County Elaine Johnson got the crowd pumped up about the new affordable housing measure called the Workforce Housing Affordability Act. (Aric Sleeper – Santa Cruz Sentinel)

SANTA CRUZ — A group of about 30 community members and officials gathered in the paseo of the Cedar Street Apartments in downtown Santa Cruz Thursday afternoon to launch the signature-gathering campaign for the Workforce Housing Affordability Act, a new ballot measure intended to collect funds for affordable housing projects in the city.

The potential ballot measure is the result of about two years of effort by a coalition of community members and organizations that began with a series of community meetings facilitated by the city.

“What you’re going to hear about today is: How did this all come together,” said Santa Cruz Mayor Fred Keeley. “We had some community meetings at the front end, hosted by the city. That was designed to get folks together and get them thinking about this, and then hand it off to our good friends at Housing Santa Cruz County. They conducted meeting after meeting, public meetings and conversations with various elements of the community.”

Housing Santa Cruz County Executive Director Elaine Johnson leads the campaign for the potential ballot initiative. If the backers can gather 3,620 signatures by May 17, it will qualify for the city of Santa Cruz’s November 2025 election and would require a simple majority vote to pass into law.

“When I woke up this morning I was thinking about the process that led us here today — two years,” said Johnson. “It was two years of engagement with the community and city staff.”

Johnson thanked the many community members who had a hand in the measure and worked to get the gathering excited about affordable housing.

“It’s going to take all of us to get over this finish line,” said Johnson. “And I can tell you, I feel it already that this is going to be a success.”

The Workforce Housing Affordability Act has two components. If the initiative makes it on the November ballot and is approved by voters, it would enact an annual parcel tax of $96 per parcel in the city of Santa Cruz. According to the text of the measure, “Exemptions would be available to qualifying low-income households, low-income senior households, affordable housing projects, schools, religious institutions and other entities that are otherwise exempt from property taxes.”

The initiative also includes a real property transfer tax for homes sold at the price of $1.8 million or more. The tax increases incrementally from 0.5% to 2%, dependent on the home’s sale price and caps at $200,000. The act would include parcel tax exemptions for seniors and low-income homeowners, and real estate transfer tax exemptions for families transferring ownership of property within immediate family.

The potential initiative is estimated to raise $5 million each year for the city’s affordable housing trust fund and would sunset in 20 years. About two-thirds of the $5 million would be collected from the real estate transfer component of the measure, and one-third from the parcel tax.

About 90% of the total revenue raised would be used to bolster affordable housing projects and programs, and 10% of the funds would be used to prevent evictions and address homelessness. A maximum of 3% would be used for “community oversight, accountability and administrative expenses in implementing the measure.”

The signature-gathering launch event featured a panel of the measure’s supporters including Marv Christie, owner of Anderson Christie Real Estate in Downtown Santa Cruz.

“The community-led process developing this initiative was invaluable, allowing input from many voices that are impacted,” said Christie. “We all know that money alone will not solve the problems but we also know that solving a problem of this magnitude requires major investment. This is a community problem that needs a community level of support and asking property owners to share in that seems like a reasonable request.”

For information, visit workforcehousingnow.net.

Press Release: Workforce Housing Affordability Act Advocates Launch Signature-gathering Effort for City of Santa Cruz Ballot Initiative

Measure aims to increase the supply of workforce housing, prevent evictions, preserve senior housing, establish shelters and gain new access to state and federal housing funds 

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. — Responding to the ongoing and acute housing crisis in Santa Cruz, a broad coalition of local housing, education, labor and business advocates and leaders convened by nonprofit Housing Santa Cruz County today launched the signature-gathering effort for the Workforce Housing Affordability Act, a measure planned for the November 2025 ballot in the city of Santa Cruz. The Workforce Housing Affordability Act will deliver needed community benefits, including: 

• Investment to construct new homes for lower-income workers, especially downtown and in transit-rich areas in the city of Santa Cruz.  

• Funding to prevent evictions, preserve senior housing and establish housing-focused shelters.  

• Greater access to state and federal workforce housing and supportive housing funds. 

• Reduction in vehicle miles traveled by workers by locating housing closer to jobs, which helps reduce production of greenhouse gases by motor vehicles – the leading contributor to climate change in Santa Cruz County. 

 The measure will raise approximately $5 million annually for a period of 20 years through an innovative hybrid tax model that includes a real estate transfer tax that will apply to property sales of $1.8 million or more, and a modest parcel tax.   

Funds raised by the measure will be managed through the City of Santa Cruz’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund, which has an outstanding track record of creating and preserving housing for Santa Cruz residents who have a lower-than-average income. In the past five years, the fund has helped create approximately 400 affordable apartments. 

Speakers at the launch event included: 

• Fred Keeley, Santa Cruz Mayor 

• Elaine Johnson, Executive Director, Housing Santa Cruz County 

• Kyle Kelley, Trustee, Santa Cruz City Schools 

• Barbara Meister, COPA 

• Marv Christie, Owner/President, Anderson Christie Real Estate 

• Elizabeth Madrigal, Policy Manager, Midpen Housing 

• Liam McLaughlin, Lead Organizer, SEIU 521 

• Jorian Wilkins, Executive Director, Downtown Association of Santa Cruz 

Additional Background 

The parcel tax will be $96 per parcel annually ($8 per month) in the city of Santa Cruz.  

The real property transfer tax will apply to transaction prices of $1.8 million or more:  

• 0.5% tax will apply to the price paid over $1.8 million, but less than $2.5 million 

• 1% tax will apply for the price paid over $2.5 million, but less than $3.5 million 

• 1.5% tax will apply for the price paid over $3.5 million, but less than $4.5 million 

• 2% tax would apply for the value paid over $4.5 million, subject to a cap of $200,000 

• Annually, the thresholds will be increased by the change in the consumer price index for the prior year 

Nearly 90% of revenue will be allocated to affordable housing projects and programs, with 10% to be allocated to programs and facilities to prevent and address homelessness. 

Revenue from the real estate transfer tax will represent approximately two-thirds of funds raised, with the remainder coming from the parcel tax. 

The Workforce Housing Affordability Act will include parcel tax exemptions for seniors and low-income homeowners, as well as real estate transfer tax exemptions for families transferring ownership of property within an immediate family.    

Learn more at www.workforcehousingnow.net.  

###