Housing Matters

Housing Matters is aiming to end homelessness in Santa Cruz County. We have a vision that homelessness should be rare, brief, and non-recurring. That means that it should be rare that people find themselves homeless. If they do, our countywide systems should be able to connect them to appropriate and effective programs and services immediately, with no wait times. And, once they get back into housing, they should never experience homelessness again.

Our county currently does not have the capacity to reach this vision, yet it is what we work toward every day. No person in Santa Cruz County should have to endure the trauma and crisis of being without a home.

Our strategy is simple: Housing solves homelessness. The process is a bit more complex. We listen carefully to each person’s individual situation and then connect them with low-barrier services and programs that will best support them on their pathway to permanent housing.

Part of this connection to services includes providing case management to empower the individual or family to make a detailed and actionable housing plan. We then work with them every step of the way, as they get back into permanent housing. For some people, this happens in a matter of days. Others may take over a year to get back to housing, depending on what challenges they’re facing. But the bottom line is that we provide resources, know-how, and personalized support to empower them to get back on their feet as quickly as possible.

The biggest barrier for us is capacity. We simply do not have enough funding to serve every person who needs help. We connect people with housing each and every day, but we (as a community) need to do more.

We have a wide variety of programs and services that support our strategies. These services can be broken into a few main buckets:

- Intake and assessment. This is the first stop for people experiencing homelessness. We conduct Smartpath assessments to get people into the HMIS system, and we use our knowledge of available local resources to connect people to the resources and programs that best fit their situation.
- Shelter as a pathway to housing. We operate four shelters on our two-acre campus, providing shelter for approximately 220 people on any given night. The only requirement for staying in one of our shelters is that the client is working toward permanent housing with the support of our shelter staff. No person is alone on their journey. Everyone who stays with us must be actively working toward stable housing. Our shelters are simply a stepping stone.
- Housing programs. We have a variety of non-shelter-based housing programs that provide case management and housing navigation to serve those experiencing homelessness countywide. These programs offer personal support and many of the programs have funding for short- or long-term rental assistance.
-Day services. Our day services program offers hot showers, public restrooms, and a mailroom to anyone in the community. These services provide a first touchpoint for guests to connect with our staff and start to build relationships with service providers.
- Co-location of services. We are located alongside Homeless Persons Health Project, a County-run health clinic. This allows clients easy access to primary health care while they are in shelter or accessing other services on our campus.
- Employment training. We partner with CalFresh Employment Training to provide access to job readiness training for those who are able to enter the job market and need extra support.


We have been operating in Santa Cruz County since 1986, and are very effective at what we do. Driven by data and evidence-based best practices, we are always working on improving our programs and services.

Since 1986, Housing Matters has grown from a collection of tents and a soup kitchen to the two-acre campus it is today.

In 2022, we will be breaking ground on our next big initiative: a 120-unit permanent supportive housing development. This will provide permanent supportive housing for 120 of our most vulnerable neighbors — those who need ongoing support to retain permanent housing. This will be the largest development of its kind in the county, and it will be co-located with a new recuperative care center, behavioral health services, and more.

As we move forward, we will continue to collect data, hone our programs and services, and look for opportunities to expand the number of people we can serve. We believe that with continued hard work, community support, and political will, we can eventually resolve homelessness together in Santa Cruz County.