Santa Cruz Sentinel: Guest Commentary | Deceptive ‘Housing For People’ measure fails to deliver on promises
By Diana Alfaro
Here we go again.
Coming in March is another Santa Cruz ballot measure written in private by a handful of people and claiming to be something it is not. A group cynically calling itself “Housing for People” has qualified a measure for the March 2024 ballot that will do exactly the opposite of what it purports to do. This measure would not create more housing for people. Instead, it will get in the way of building homes for local essential workers and families.
Disregarding the very real housing crisis our community is facing, the (Less) Housing for People measure attempts to dramatically limit the number of homes that can be built in downtown Santa Cruz, while at the same time creating a new obstacle to granny units (ADUs) throughout the city. If you’re thinking of building an ADU that might exceed the height limit by even a few inches, you might have to put a zoning change to a vote in a citywide election. That election, by the way, will cost approximately $170,000 to conduct.
The bad news isn’t just about downtown. It’s also bad news for residents living in neighborhoods all over town. Because the measure aims to cut the number of homes that can be built downtown, home builders and the city will be forced to place more multi-story projects in or near neighborhoods all over Santa Cruz. Why? Because the state of California is requiring communities statewide, including the city of Santa Cruz, to build thousands of units of housing for the people who live and work in each community. If we can’t build enough apartments downtown, they will have to be built elsewhere in the city.
The measure also puts another obstacle in the way of building a key project that will create homes for people who have been unhoused in our community. The city owns a site adjacent to the existing homeless center that could be a permanent home for folks with significant disabilities who have been living outside on the streets. Do we really need a costly vote to approve one building that will be funded by grants and local donations?
This measure gets even worse. By moving future housing and residents away from downtown, the measure encourages sprawl and more commuters driving on congested Highway 1 and local streets. Though proponents of this unwise measure are touting environmental values, they focus on shadows cast by buildings as an environmental problem, when the real problem is too many local workers driving long distances and burning fossil fuels. We can build intelligently — housing local working families, building in the most walkable and transit-friendly part of the city, and reducing our community’s carbon footprint.
Finally, please consider the “affordable housing” deception contained in this measure. The measure would require home builders to include a significantly higher number of affordable units in their projects. This is a feel-good gesture that actually does real harm. Requiring the amount of affordable units to be too high makes it unfeasible for a home builder to build their project. This means new homes won’t get built and fewer local people get housed. Some folks may believe no more new homes would be a good thing. However, this means local essential workers and their families are shut out — and it means the state government will take away even more of our local control over development. This is not hyperbole; this is the new reality of the housing crisis in California. By law, if we won’t build housing in our community, the state will do it for us.
I have spent my career working to build housing for people who simply seek an affordable place to live in their community. All of the local professionals I’ve worked with who have expertise in affordable housing, smart housing development and transportation agree this measure is a very bad idea for Santa Cruz. Please join me in opposing this measure.
Diana Alfaro is an affordable housing professional, a former vice chair of Housing Santa Cruz County and lives in downtown Santa Cruz.