We support Measure C
Written by Julian Crown, Policy and Research Associate, Housing Matters
Measure C would restore millions of dollars to homeless services and deeply affordable housing by creating a locally controlled, ongoing funding source at a time when unprecedented federal policy changes threaten to push thousands of people back into homelessness.
In recent years, our community has made real progress helping people stay housed and ensuring unprecedented numbers of our unhoused neighbors return to housing. But that progress is now at risk. Washington is advancing the most dangerous cuts to housing and homelessness funding in decades while demanding cities prioritize forced treatment and imprisonment. If enacted, these changes will force thousands back into homelessness and push others onto the streets for the first time.
California is unlikely to fill the gap left by these cuts. Though homelessness and housing affordability consistently rank among voters’ top concerns, the state spends less than 2% of its total budget on homelessness. This year, the Governor and Legislature cut funding for the state’s hallmark homelessness program—the Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention (HHAP) program—by half. Our community cannot depend on Sacramento to protect local programs when federal support disappears.
Even more concerning, federal leaders are threatening to withhold homelessness funds from communities that refuse to align with the White House agenda—pressuring cities to cooperate with immigration enforcement, expand forced institutionalization, and criminalize sleeping outside.
In places like Santa Cruz, where there are far more unsheltered people than available shelter beds, many have no choice but to sleep outdoors. Sleep is a biological necessity, yet federal policymakers have turned funding into a weapon to coerce cities criminalizing sleep. These approaches not only violate our values—they make homelessness worse by pushing people further from safety, stability, and services that help them reconnect to housing.
Our community knows better. We know the solution to homelessness is housing, not handcuffs. We know that criminalization wastes resources and prolongs suffering. And we know that if we want to protect our neighbors and preserve our progress, we will need locally controlled, ongoing funding streams to resist federal funding cuts and policy pressures.
Measure C would reduce our reliance on federal funds by creating a locally controlled and dedicated funding stream for deeply affordable housing and homelessness. At a time of extreme uncertainty about federal and state investments, Measure C provides ongoing revenue that our community knows will be available – allowing us to plan for the future in ways we otherwise won’t be able to do. And while other measures on the ballot also provide funding for housing and homelessness, they do so at a much smaller scale that does not match the needs of our community. When every dollar from Washington is at risk of disappearing, every dollar we can raise for locally controlled solutions is a dollar we need.
That’s why Housing Matters strongly supports Measure C and urges Santa Cruz voters to stand with their neighbors, protect local values, and choose real, lasting solutions to keep people housed.
For more information visit: https://yesoncsantacruz.org/