Homelessness severely impacts the health and quality of life of those living without homes and the entire community. The County of Santa Cruz, cities within the county, and community members recognize the need for strong collaborative action to ensure all county residents have stable, safe, and healthy places to live.
The County and its partners created the Housing for a Healthy Santa Cruz County Strategic “Framework” through a collaborative process that used the experience, knowledge and input of a broad set of community stakeholders including cities, non-profit organizations, County Departments, and people with lived experiences of homelessness. Work on it began in March 2019 with a review of current local efforts and data on homelessness, along with an evaluation and discussion of experiences in other communities.
The Framework outlines coalition action steps that can reduce unsheltered and overall homelessness countywide by January 2024. The County Human Services Department’s new Housing for Health (H4H) Division will provide leadership and the backbone administrative support for implementation of this Framework.
The Framework sets goals to reduce the number of households experiencing homelessness at a point-in-time by just over 25% between January 2019 and January 2024. It also calls for a 50% reduction in the number of households living “unsheltered” in places such as the streets, parks, cars, and unsafe structures. Click here for the full Framework.
Goals to reduce the number of households experiencing homelessness
