The unhoused crisis in Santa Cruz often feels insurmountable, but Larry Imwalle, the city’s homeless response manager, has some good news: We are making progress. Here, he outlines successes the city has had in the past 18 months and explains why shelters are the first step to long-term help.  

The homelessness crisis in Santa Cruz did not happen overnight and it is going to take time to meet our goals of ending homelessness. But, we are making incremental progress, even if some of the milestones are not immediately visible. 

Let me explain. 

Responding to homelessness takes time. 

Over the past 18 months, the City of Santa Cruz’s Homelessness Response Team has reflected on the implementation of our three-year action plan. We have been meeting with stakeholders, including the unhoused community, neighbors, nonprofit partners and business leaders to get feedback on how to improve our services. And while we have made significant strides during this short period of time, we know the work we have to do in our community is not done. 

In Santa Cruz, we embrace a “housing first” approach. But “housing first” does not mean “housing only.” 

The system necessitates emergency and interim housing options in addition to permanent housing solutions (that can’t be built soon enough), as well as the wraparound services needed to support people’s health and well-being and housing stability. Addressing homelessness in our region requires new and expanded solutions and the implementation of multiple strategies simultaneously. We need to champion short-term solutions that can help people today, while we work toward long-term goals of building more affordable housing and providing more homelessness-related services in our community.

In winter when the rains start and temperatures start to drop, we have a significant increase in the number of people seeking alternatives to sleeping outside. To protect the unhoused from cold, overnight temperatures, temporary severe weather shelters are available in Santa Cruz (Depot Park Freight Building and the Santa Cruz Veterans Memorial Building) and Watsonville (Watsonville Veterans Memorial Building).

We have a total of 116 beds collectively across the sites. This shelter system is the result of a collaboration among the county, the City of Santa Cruz and the City of Watsonville. So far this year, these severe weather shelters have been open for 15 nights. These emergency overnight shelters are at or near capacity every night they are open, offering a warm and dry place for people to sleep and respite from the weather. 

In addition, the city manages two 24/7 safe sleeping sites, the City Overlook (135 tents, operated by the Salvation Army) and 1220 River Street Transitional Community Camp (30  tents, managed by city outreach). These two emergency shelters can accommodate more than 185 people total and form a significant piece of the limited sites within the county that provide easily accessible, emergency accommodations for people who have nowhere to sleep. 

Although these shelters are located in the city of Santa Cruz, they serve the homeless population throughout the county and provide life-saving services. To serve that need, the outreach teams from public agencies and community-based organizations meet with people every day to provide service coordination and connect them to shelter.

At our shelters, people have access to a safe place to sleep, food, water, hygiene stations and a supportive community. People can stay at city shelters for up to six months. 

We have seen incredible transformations in people when these basic needs are met, and they have a stable, safe living environment. 

In 2022, the city added safe parking sites to our shelter program. This includes overnight safe parking in city lots and a long-term safe parking site at the National Guard Armory. These two safe parking programs can accommodate approximately 53 oversized vehicles.  

The safe parking site at the armory (managed by Santa Cruz Free Guide) provides 24/7 parking for RVs and allows for participants to stay up to six months. Participants aren’t required to move their vehicles every day, allowing for increased stability and access to services. Learn more about our long-term safe parking program by watching this video

All of our shelter programs were developed with specific input from the unhoused community on the barriers to accessing shelter, the type of services and support needed on-site. All city shelter sites are “low barrier” — meaning pets, possessions and partners are welcome. We offer shuttle service that provides transportation to accessible locations throughout the city where people can access services and groceries.

Shelter staff deepen relationships with unhoused people over time to better understand the needs, challenges and perspectives affecting their housing. We provide service coordination, housing navigation and other services on-site. Case managers from local service providers meet clients at the community gathering areas. Over time, participants are able to settle in, stabilize, and make connections to other services such as employment and housing support. 

Entering one of our shelters is often the first step on a journey out of homelessness. We know that shelter environments are not a good fit for everyone who is unhoused, however our program participants confirm that a critical step for moving out of an encampment or off the street is access to this type of low-barrier shelter, where they can move beyond the day-to-day focus on survival and give more attention to searching for jobs and longer-term housing. 

Different people have different needs. Our hope with these programs is to create alternatives to unsafe, unmanaged encampments or situations where people are subject to violence and theft on the street.

Over the past year at 1220 River Transitional Community Camp, 38% (40 people) of participants have moved on to more stable housing. At our long-term safe parking, 40% of people (20 people) have moved on to more stable housing. Program data gathered over the past two years suggests that shelters, with the right support and connection to services, can be effective in helping people move out of homelessness.

In a region with nearly 2,000 unhoused people, where affordable housing is in high demand and building more is costly and takes time, our streets, neighborhoods and open spaces should not be the waiting room for a permanent home. 

Shelter beds allow for more people to be sheltered, resulting in fewer individuals living on the streets.

We understand the impacts that encampments are having in our neighborhoods, parks, beaches and open spaces. And we are responding. 

The city outreach team, public works, parks, fire, water and police departments collaborate every day to offer assistance, shelter and services to every person who is interested. Sometimes it takes years for someone to accept shelter and help. We want to support people when they are ready to take that step.

I believe everyone wants a safe place to live. There is a critical need for shelter, which is why our Homelessness Response Team is focused on responding with compassion and care for those who need it most.

The city hosted a public Zoom webinar Feb. 28 where we discussed the three-year action plan, shelter programs and outcomes, outreach efforts, and future plans. You can watch a recording of the webinar on our website.

If you would like to learn more or get involved, please visit our website to view our plan, learn more about our programs and partners and subscribe to our newsletter to stay up to date on developments.

We have made significant progress over the past year, but there is still so much work to be done.

Larry Imwalle is the City of Santa Cruz homelessness response manager.

Read the article on Santa Cruz Lookout's website.