Making small progress on homelessness
Second of two parts on homelessness.
The goal seems clear enough: Build enough housing to shelter people who are homeless.
That, most public officials agree, is the only way to begin to move past tent camps and people sleeping underneath freeway overpasses and in parks and in open space areas such as along the San Lorenzo River.
But is that doable?
A 2017 Journal of Housing Economics study found that cities must build about 10 new permanent subsidized homes to get even one person off the street. That's because many such homes or apartments end up occupied by people who would have found a place to live anyway since demand is high and subsidized housing also attracts people who conceivably can afford to pay.
It doesn't help, as homelessness increases throughout California, that “affordable” housing in the state costs as much as $700,000 a unit to build. High housing costs make it extremely difficult to reduce the numbers of people experiencing homelessness. Santa Cruz County is ranked at the top or near the top as the most expensive rental market in the country.
Critics say new long-term housing has to be tied to mandatory drug, alcohol and mental-health treatment. And unsanctioned public camping, which is dangerous to the homeless and to residents in adjacent neighborhoods, has to end.
Santa Cruz, for all its reputation as a haven for the homeless, has actually been at the forefront of efforts to both end illegal camping and provide shelter for the dispossessed. The city of Santa Cruz has dismantled the long lasting, quasi-sanctioned tent camp at the San Lorenzo Park benchlands after citing public health and safety concerns while also establishing two new organized encampment areas as alternative shelter options. But city and county officials have said more additional temporary emergency shelter is needed.
Project Homekey is looked at as one positive development. Santa Cruz County accepted $10.7 million from the state for a housing project that will be built on Park Avenue in Soquel. Construction has already started on the three story, 36-unit apartment complex which has faced neighborhood opposition.
With the county Housing Authority's voucher assistance, the housing project will be built for tenants who are at risk of being or are previously homeless, with a focus on veterans for 17 units, families in four units and former fostercare youth in 14 units.
Overall the project's cost is estimated at around $20 million. Simple arithmetic shows that just in construction costs, this works out to more than $555,000 per unit.
Along with a 120-unit,
$45 million Housing Matters supportive-housing complex on Harvey West Avenue due to break ground in the spring, the Soquel project will make a difference, but not enough.
And that still leaves a population of homeless individuals who won't be living in subsidized housing. As we noted in Sunday's Editorial, Santa Cruz County's 2022 Point-In-Time Count showed significant increases in the numbers of people experiencing homelessness who self-reported substanceuse disorders and serious mental illness.
One path forward to help some people could come through CARE Courts. Gov. Gavin Newsom last month signed the legislation creating these civil courts that will allow a judge to order treatment for people with the most serious mental illnesses who don't have access to care or don't think they need it.
The first CARE Courts must be set up by Oct. 1, 2023, with Santa Cruz County required to follow by Dec. 1, 2024. Newsom budgeted $63 million to help counties roll out the new system, although many counties have voiced concerns that this won't be enough.
The new system likely also will face legal challenges by groups who say it takes away patients' rights to make decisions about treatment.
And CARE Courts still don't answer the biggest hurdles the state and local agencies face as the numbers of people who are homeless increases: the lack of shelter and treatment facilities, and the funding to provide enough of both to make a real difference.