Housing Santa Cruz County will take positions on key affordable housing issues and policies and, at times, mobilize community members to advocate.  If you or your organization would like to request support or endorsement for your project or policy proposal, here’s how it works:

Any individual or organization can submit a request for a policy or project by completing the form and answering questions through the form below.

The completed and accepted request must be submitted at least 21 days before the (jurisdictional) decision-makers will make their decision. (Exceptions can be allowed when 21 days is not feasible.)

After submittal of the form, the Policy/Endorsement Committee of HSCC will review within 10 days and forward recommendation to our Governing board. The Governing Board will review the recommendation and act will attempt to act within 7 days (A decision could be delayed if a full Board meeting is needed for a full discussion of the issue).

Approval of policy or project action requires 60 percent support of Governing Board members. The Governing Board will determine which items will receive basic support (letter from HSCC and posting in appropriate places) or full activation (with action notification and request to everyone on our email list).

Here are the principles and criteria that will guide our decisions. Please read these carefully before submitting.

We will support:

  • government policies and community solutions that clearly facilitate the creation of permanent housing units that serve primarily working families and individuals below the County’s median income levels or that serve our most vulnerable residents

  • government policies that preserve current housing opportunities for these populations

  • specific housing development projects whose primary focus is providing housing for these populations

  • specific programs that provide for housing-related emergency relief and supports to these populations

We have a particular (but not exclusive) interest in:

  • Projects that are 100 percent affordable for extremely low, very low, low and moderate-income households 

  • Projects that are specifically geared to vulnerable populations such as seniors, farmworkers, persons with disabilities and individuals exiting homelessness

  • Efforts that increase the amount of funding for new housing units for low, very low and extremely low-income households

  • Workforce housing projects with some affordability and local preference requirements 

  • Projects that take maximum advantage of job centers and transportation corridors 

We accept endorsement requests of market-rate projects when they include more than the minimum number of required inclusionary units, and/or when extremely-low and very-low income housing units are a significant portion of the inclusionary units. 

Projects must be located in Santa Cruz County. Policy proposals must have a direct link to affordable housing creation or preservation for residents and workers in Santa Cruz County.

To submit a request for support or endorsement, please complete the form below:

HSCC Logo Horizontal Color.png