Harvey West Studios
The building will be a healing environment, where residents feel at home within a shared community, that supports those who are currently experiencing chronic homelessness in Santa Cruz County on the path to health and long-term housing stability.
120
UNITS OF PERMANENT HOUSING FOR
OUR MOST VULNERABLE NEIGHBORS
300
SQUARE FEET OF LIVING
SPACE PER UNIT
2023
CONSTRUCTION BEGINS.
FIRST RESIDENTS MOVE IN 2025
Housing Matters is building 120 units of permanent—and supportive—housing for people experiencing chronic homelessness in Santa Cruz County.
In about 300 sq. ft., each of the 120 studio apartments will provide single individuals modest accommodations. High-quality modular construction will incorporate passive design with low environmental impact, ensuring lower cost and time to build without compromising quality. The restorative environment will incorporate gathering areas, landscaped spaces, and a rooftop deck to foster intentional community and staff interaction.
We are building housing that embraces the inherent value of every resident with onsite medical and behavioral health services and comprehensive case management to provide a dignified environment for residents to achieve long-term housing stability, health, and community integration.
A LOT OF PEOPLE TALK ABOUT THE NEED FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING IN OUR COMMUNITY AND HOUSING MATTERS IS DOING SOMETHING ABOUT IT.”
CECILIA ESPINOLA, BOARD OF DIRECTORS PRESIDENT
OUR PURPOSE
Helping One of Us
Works For All of Us
Creating impactful change requires a commitment to innovative leadership and collaboration between agencies, private philanthropy, and most importantly, our community.
Santa Cruz County’s lack of housing with onsite support perpetuates chronic homelessness in our community.
Individuals experiencing chronic homelessness, by definition, experience prolonged and repeated periods of living unhoused and struggle with a disabling condition. Their stability relies heavily on access to daily supportive services—like medical care and ongoing case management—alongside affordable, permanent housing. This 120-unit building of affordable housing with essential services onsite will ensure people experiencing chronic homelessness have the support they need to have a stable and comfortable place to call home. This is the essence of permanent supportive housing and the solution to ending homelessness for some of our most vulnerable neighbors. By recognizing that every single person is worthy of housing and that housing is a powerful foundation from which to build health—physically, spiritually, mentally, and emotionally—this new building offers the stability that can only come with permanent housing.
We are building housing that embraces the inherent value of every resident with onsite medical and behavioral health services and comprehensive case management to provide a dignified environment for residents to achieve long-term housing stability, health, and community integration.
SO OFTEN WHEN WE THINK OF HOMELESSNESS IN SANTA CRUZ COUNTY, WE ONLY SEE THE PROBLEMS. IF WE WANT TO LOOK, INSTEAD, AT SOLUTIONS, THERE IS HOPE ON THE HORIZON.”
SUSAN TRUE, CEO OF SCC COMMUNITY FOUNDATION
YOUR IMPACT
This is Our Moment
Will you lend a hand?
The many passionate voices who speak up about the state of homelessness in Santa Cruz County find common agreement in the fact that the status quo does not work and big steps need to be taken. And that’s exactly what we’re doing.
See project floorplans, artist renderings, progress photos, and more in our gallery.
By re-imagining what’s possible, we have the opportunity to define what it means to stand up for everyone in our community.
The social and economic health of Santa Cruz County depends on the empowerment that comes when everyone has a place to call home and when the entire community rallies to support this vision.
By building 120 units of affordable, supportive housing and providing our neighbors the resources they need to stay comfortably housed, we are illustrating what is possible. This is a model that can be duplicated, a solution to homelessness that each and every person in Santa Cruz County can stand behind, elevate, and take pride in. This is proof that when we come together as a community, we can solve homelessness.
Our friends, donors, and business partners who continue to put their confidence in the determination, talent, and undeterred vision of Housing Matters make this transformation possible by building on the shared mission of ending chronic homelessness in Santa Cruz County. This building will literally end homelessness for the 120 individuals who reside here at any given time.
WE CANNOT SOLVE THE ISSUE OF HOMELESSNESS IN SANTA CRUZ COUNTY WITHOUT BUILDING CAPACITY. BY BUILDING CAPACITY, WE ARE SHOWING PEOPLE WHAT CAN BE DONE TO IMPROVE OUR COMMUNITY; THIS CAN BE A MODEL FOR HOW WE SOLVE HOMELESSNESS IN THE FUTURE.”
BUD COLLIGAN, FOUNDER & CEO SOUTH SWELL VENTURES
ABOUT US
Let’s Solve Homelessness
Now and for the Future
Since 1986, Housing Matters has been making a significant impact in our community.
Advancing from a small, grassroots nonprofit to a nationally recognized organization, Housing Matters stands alone in its ability to consistently attract the depth of donor participation and grant money needed to launch a campaign of this magnitude and importance.
There is no organization better suited, with the right people and resources, than Housing Matters, to successfully accomplish the development of a 120-unit permanent supportive home for high-risk, medically vulnerable, and chronically homeless individuals.
While there is no other organization like Housing Matters, it can also be said there is no other county like Santa Cruz. Generations of civic-minded, generous, and progressive activists have paved the way for Housing Matters’ steadfast vision of what a community engaged in ending homelessness means to everyone.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Points & Perspective
If you have further questions, contact Mer Stafford, Chief Impact Officer at (831) 226-2512 or mstafford@housingmatterssc.org
