August 2022 Newsletter

Written By Janine Roeth
 

Housing Trivia Night @ Abbott Square

 

 😎   😎   😎

Oversized Vehicle Ordinance Appeal: SUCCESSFUL at Coastal Commission

In July, the Coastal Commission considered and supported the appeal of Oversized Vehicle Ordinance brought by Santa Cruz Cares, the ACLU and Disability Rights of California. The bottom line?  The Coastal Commission takes over the jurisdiction of the permit and implementation is on hold. We understand the City is continuing to develop needed services of safe parking, sanitation and other mobile services for those living in cars and RVs. 👏

County Sustainability Update - August Study Session and Public Hearing

  • The last County Planning Commission Study Session on the County's Sustainability Update is planned for Wednesday, August 10th @ 9:30am. (Agenda and Zoom Link)

  • The first Public Hearing on the Sustainability Update is planned for August 24th @ 9:30am.

See more on the Sustainability Update including documents, past and planned future events online here (scroll down).

City of Santa Cruz Objective Development Standards

The City Planning Commission had a public hearing on the Objective Standards in July. They approved the standards with changes to the inclusionary requirements. The next stop is the Santa Cruz City Council which may be as soon as the next meeting in August.

YIMBY Law wins lawsuit against City of Los Angeles

YIMBY Law scores a WIN at the Superior Court. Their case was against the City of LA which denied a multi-family project in violation of the Housing Accountability Act (2018). “It’s absurd that current zoning makes it easier to reserve space for chinchillas than it is to build homes for people,” said Sonja Trauss, Executive Director at YIMBY Law. “It’s time for Los Angeles to focus on addressing the housing affordability crisis. The result of this lawsuit will help make that happen.”  Read the full press release here.

November General Election News

We have less than 100 days until the November election. We will be hearing a lot about the Downtown Library project and the initiative on the ballot to kill it. Santa Cruz YIMBY says "NO" to the ODOF initiative.

👤 🔊 🗳 

We are hearing about people declaring their candidacy for open city council seats in Santa Cruz (including the new Mayor position), Scotts Valley, Capitola and Watsonville. Check out who has put their hats in the ring through these Candidate Trackers --->

Candidate Tracker, City of Santa Cruz

Candidate Tracker, Capitola

Candidate Tracker, Watsonville

Candidate Tracker, Scotts Valley

Candidate Tracker, County of Santa Cruz

And the YIMBY-endorsed candidates like Felipe Hernandez are looking forward to the general election:

OMG, Santa Cruz County is now #2!

 This is not good news. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's 2022 "Out of Reach" report (PDF), our county is the 2nd most expensive area in the nation to live.  (Last year, we were 3rd.)

Another report, "The State of the Nation's Housing 2022" (PDF) from the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies presents the dismal income numbers needed to BUY a house in our county:

Janine Roeth
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