⚠️ Aviso de traducción: Este contenido ha sido traducido automáticamente. El texto original en inglés es la versión oficial. La traducción puede contener errores.
⚠️ Este contenido ha sido traducido automáticamente. El texto original en inglés es la versión oficial. La traducción puede contener errores.
Findings 17 findings
F1
regulatory constraints that are most limiting to construction
F2
adjustments that would materially increase the number of units being built
F3
the extent to which the County’s current approach can actually achieve its housing targets The risks of inaction are substantial. Continued underperformance will expose the County to increasing State intervention, including further loss of discretionary control over land use decisions. More importantly, it will perpetuate the ongoing housing shortage which is already pricing out large segments of the County’s workforce and risks fundamentally altering the character of the community. The County faces a clear choice: it can continue to rely on a framework that achieves compliance on paper while falling short in practice, or it can take bold action to align its policies with economic reality and enable housing to be built at scale. The tools to do so are available. What is required is the willingness to act. Absent strong leadership willing to use the tools at their disposal, Santa Cruz County will continue to merely satisfy statutory requirements while failing to address the housing crisis confronting its residents and workers. FINDINGS
F4
F1. Over the past 40 years, the County of Santa Cruz has adopted land-use and growth- management policies designed to limit the pace and location of development. These policies have limited housing production, exacerbating severe housing affordability challenges for residents and workers who are increasingly priced out of living in the County.
F5
F2. Despite adopting a State-certified Housing Element, the County of Santa Cruz has fallen significantly behind on progress toward permitting sufficient housing production to meet its Regional Housing Needs Allocation targets. As a result, the County is unlikely to adequately address the housing needs of County residents and workers increasingly priced out of living in the County.
F6
F3. The County of Santa Cruz has failed to create a housing plan likely to generate sufficient housing production to meet its Regional Housing Needs Allocation targets. As a result, the County faces an increased risk of State-imposed consequences. 12
F7
F4. The County of Santa Cruz has not conducted and published a comprehensive financial feasibility analysis of housing development in the County. As a result, the extent to which zoned capacity will ultimately be converted into new housing units is not reliably known.
F8
F5. Because the County of Santa Cruz has not performed a comprehensive financial feasibility analysis, the County lacks an important tool to identify and remedy regulatory constraints impeding its ability to achieve its housing goals.
F9
F6. The failure of the County of Santa Cruz to publish a comprehensive financial feasibility analysis means that the public is deprived of a concrete way to judge the County’s use of its regulatory power to address the housing crisis.
F10
F7. The County of Santa Cruz has not created an easily accessible public dashboard for tracking progress towards meeting its Regional Housing Need Allocation. As a result, the public must piece together data from multiple sources to understand what progress is being made to meet the County’s housing goals.
F11
F1. Over the past 40 years, the County of Santa Cruz has adopted land-use and growth- management policies designed to limit the pace and location of development. These policies have limited housing production, exacerbating severe housing affordability challenges for residents and workers who are increasingly priced out of living in the County.
F12
F2. Despite adopting a State-certified Housing Element, the County of Santa Cruz has fallen significantly behind on progress toward permitting sufficient housing production to meet its Regional Housing Needs Allocation targets. As a result, the County is unlikely to adequately address the housing needs of County residents and workers increasingly priced out of living in the County.
F13
F3. The County of Santa Cruz has failed to create a housing plan likely to generate sufficient housing production to meet its Regional Housing Needs Allocation targets. As a result, the County faces an increased risk of State-imposed consequences. 12
F14
F4. The County of Santa Cruz has not conducted and published a comprehensive financial feasibility analysis of housing development in the County. As a result, the extent to which zoned capacity will ultimately be converted into new housing units is not reliably known.
F15
F5. Because the County of Santa Cruz has not performed a comprehensive financial feasibility analysis, the County lacks an important tool to identify and remedy regulatory constraints impeding its ability to achieve its housing goals.
F16
F6. The failure of the County of Santa Cruz to publish a comprehensive financial feasibility analysis means that the public is deprived of a concrete way to judge the County’s use of its regulatory power to address the housing crisis.
F17
F7. The County of Santa Cruz has not created an easily accessible public dashboard for tracking progress towards meeting its Regional Housing Need Allocation. As a result, the public must piece together data from multiple sources to understand what progress is being made to meet the County’s housing goals.
Recommendations 6
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R1R1. The Grand Jury recommends that the Board of Supervisors direct the Department of Community Development and Infrastructure to take all steps necessary or appropriate to increase the likelihood that the number of housing units identified in the 6th Cycle Regional Housing Needs Allocation will actually be built.
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R2R2. The Grand Jury recommends that the Board of Supervisors direct the Department of Community Development and Infrastructure to conduct and publish a comprehensive financial feasibility analysis. We recommend the analysis: (i) determine how many housing units are likely to be built in the County of Santa Cruz during the 6th Regional Housing Needs Allocation cycle; (ii) identify key local regulatory barriers to building; (iii) provide policymakers with recommendations regarding which changes to local regulations would spur actual construction; (iv) provide the public with reliable measurable information regarding the County’s progress toward, and commitment to, addressing the housing crisis. The analyses should be initiated no later than February 1, 2027, and completed and published
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R3R3. The Grand Jury recommends that the Board of Supervisors (i) formally identify the recommendations it wishes to adopt from the comprehensive financial feasibility analysis, (ii) adopt those recommendations, and (iii) direct the Department of Community Development and Infrastructure to implement the adopted recommendations. The Board of 13 Supervisors should do so no later than 90 days following completion of the analysis.
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R4R4. The Grand Jury recommends that the Board of Supervisors direct the Department of Community Development and Infrastructure (CDI) to publish online the County’s Annual Progress Report (APR) once it has been submitted to the State. The Board of Supervisors should direct CDI to do so by December 31, 2026, and complete such publication for subsequent years no later than April 15th, 2 weeks after the APR is due to the State.
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R5R5. The Grand Jury recommends that the Board of Supervisors direct the Department of Community Development and Infrastructure (CDI) to ensure that the existing affordable housing and major projects dashboards are updated quarterly. The Board of Supervisors should direct CDI to begin doing so no later than December 31, 2026.
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R6R6. The Grand Jury recommends that the Board of Supervisors direct the Department of Community Development and Infrastructure (CDI) to explore options for creating a single, regularly updated dashboard for all new housing units being developed in the County of Santa Cruz linking the newly permitted units to Regional Housing Needs Allocation targets that can utilize existing and future planning workflows. The Board of Supervisors should direct CDI to do so no later than December 31, 2026, and CDI should report back to the board on these options no later than April 1st, 2027.