January 2024 Newsletter

Happy New Year!

Welcome to 2024! It's going to be a big election year. Let's start it off by taking some decisive and EASY pro-housing actions!

1. Add your name to the list of people OPPOSING Measure M

2. Get involved - request campaign yard signs or volunteer (read on for how)

3. Plan to attend Santa Cruz YIMBY monthly meeting (virtual) on Jan 18th at 5:30 to discuss elections, candidates and measure.

4. Volunteer for the Point in Time count on Jan 25th (read on for how)

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Here's Santa Cruz YIMBY's March primary voter guide for local measures and candidates. They need your help! Can you commit to getting involved? Get a yard sign, volunteer to help, sign up for their updates!

• No on Measure M - Get Involved

Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors

• District 1 - Manu Koenig - Get involved

• District 2 - Kristen Brown - Get involved
  District 5 - Monica Martinez - Get involved

City of Santa Cruz City Council

• District 1 - Gabriella Trigueiro - Get involved

• District 2 - Sonja Brunner - Get involved

• District 3 - Shebreh Kalantari-Johnson - Get involved

• District 5 - Joe Thompson - Get involved

Our Santa Cruz YIMBY monthly meeting (virtual) on Jan 18th at 5:30 will be all about how we can help candidates and No on Measure M.

No on Measure M
Save Affordable Housing

Measure M is a major mistake for our community!

Measure M will push housing development away from downtown and closer to neighborhoods all over town as we respond to state requirements to build more homes in Santa Cruz in order to address our housing crisis.

Measure M was authored in private by a well-intentioned group of residents who want to protect downtown from taller buildings. However, because of their failure to have a public process, they made many troubling mistakes when they wrote the initiative.

It requires expensive citywide elections on minor zoning matters, such as building fences between neighbors and constructing granny units. We taxpayers will pay for these elections that will average $170,000 each.

Measure M will hinder workforce housing development just when we need more housing for the people who make our community healthy and successful.

The above is from the ballot argument against Measure M.

Add your name to the list of people OPPOSING Measure M.

Read more:

• Here’s what they don’t tell you about the Housing for People ballot initiative - Lookout Santa Cruz

• Guest Commentary | Deceptive ‘Housing For People’ measure fails to deliver on promises – Santa Cruz Sentinel

• Who’s telling an accurate story on Santa Cruz’s Measure M?

• Propaganda or propaganda? Yet another response to Santa Cruz’s dangerous and senseless ballot Measure M

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Volunteer for the Point in Time Count

The annual Point-in-Time Count is vital for funding and the development of policies that will help resolve homelessness in Santa Cruz County. It is scheduled for Thursday, January 25, 2024.

Volunteers are needed for the Count. Volunteers will work in teams and are asked to lead a visual count of people who are experiencing homelessness in the County. Sign up to be a volunteer and attend the training on Monday, January 15 from 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., via Zoom and in-person (location TBD - check here for more info).

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Housing Element Update

The Dec 15, 2023 deadline has come and gone for Santa Cruz County Housing Elements:

• City of Santa Cruz has an adopted, compliant, Housing Element!

• Capitola has an adopted Housing Element, and awaits HCD's review for compliance.

• Santa Cruz county (uninc) has an adopted Housing Element and awaits HCD's review for compliance. (And the Sustainability Update LCP was adopted by the Coastal Commission!)

• Scotts Valley adopted a housing element that *they* think is compliant, although HCD sent them a 7 page letter outlining revisions needed.

• Watsonville just released their first draft Housing Element.

Related: Santa Cruz city leaders approve thousands of potential new homes.