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.