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Santa Cruz is a Housing Nightmare

darrellowens.substack.com

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Re: Santa Cruz is a Housing Nightmare

#91

Post by rcpt »

vineyardmike wrote: post #70
yuan43 wrote: post #58

The recipe for what Santa Cruz is experiencing seems to be: 1. Locate the city in a geographically isolated, but beautiful area close to a major employment hub. 2. Institute strong anti-growth policies. 3. Invite a UC into town. 4. Allow the UC to expand without the matching requirement to build one market-rate housing unit per admitted student. 5. Wait a few decades. What's great about this is how everyone is trying…

I mostly agree with your sentiment, but I don’t think you’re being very fair to students, and i don’t think this issue is particularly about the students. (and I’m not convinced Prop13 needs to be repealed to solve problems). Students and loans are a different issue and it seems cruel to label them as wannabe UC students who aren’t good enough. All UCs are respectable. I think this issue can be generalized a lot… 1.…

Since 1977 California has had the California Tax Postponement Program to protect low income seniors from the economy. If you're a low income senior and own your house in California you can defer property taxes indefinitely so that no matter what happens to housing prices you'll never feel pressured to move. Several states have something similar (eg. NJ senior freeze) but I think California is the most aggressive.

Prop 13 is wholly unnecessary. It could be removed entirely overnight and grandma wouldn't need to pay a dime.

Re: Santa Cruz is a Housing Nightmare

#92

Post by russellbeattie »

My son just went through this and got super lucky to find a place, but out in Capitola.

UCSC's campus is absolutely massive with huge areas of unused, unforested land [1]. There is more than enough space for more dorms and apartment houses as well as the accompanying utility systems needed. If they're going to continue to increase enrollment, they need to bite the bullet and put up some goddamn buildings. They simply don't want to.

1. https://maps.app.goo.gl/qocsUGwbhcZaKbdX7

Re: Santa Cruz is a Housing Nightmare

#93

Post by standardUser »

paxys wrote: post #78
standardUser wrote: post #38

What people seem to miss is how awesome UCSC is. In typical HN fashion I see multiple comments talking dryly about college selection like it's a business decision. People flock to UCSC for its exceptional natural beauty, idiosyncratic culture and slightly unorthodox academics. Not because of a cost-benefit analysis. For people like me, it offered a big-campus college experience without the emphasis on sports and the…

That's the issue isn't it? Students flock to it not after doing a cost-benefit analysis but because it's an upscale seaside resort where they can have a great time for four years. But then why complain about the cost of living there? Should it be affordable? And should the town have to support this?

> But then why complain about the cost of living there?

For the obvious reason that we all want to live where we want to live and be able to afford it. That's not a crazy concept, and it's often achievable if we support politicians and policies that support rational urban growth.

Re: Santa Cruz is a Housing Nightmare

#94

Post by mixmastamyk »

michaelwww wrote: post #79
mixmastamyk wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Didn't get a big nimby vibe from your first post, just sounded like you were explaining the local situation. But now you've mentioned it, nimby is the reason your nieces and nephs won't be able to live there. The richest folks always win when there is a refusal to build.

I'm not even sure what NIMBY means but if it means concerned about the development in my hometown then I'm NIMBY.

"Not in my backyard" ensures scarcity, in cahoots with Econ 101 whilst denying it.

^Insert quote about salary preventing understanding. In this case home equity.

Re: Santa Cruz is a Housing Nightmare

#95

Post by mixmastamyk »

s3r3nity wrote: post #46
seahorserocker wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Excellent article. Here we have it ^, the opposition to housing solutions. Not pitchfork wielding homeowners, but polite good citizens who are NIMBY and disguised as environmentally friendly people who really care for the city's character, as well as blaming the UC. Please tell me how the massive meth-filled homeless encampment behind the courthouse is being handled in a "progressive" way. By the way they were forcib…

> Increased density is coming to everywhere in California, like it or not. If you're hoping to have a well intentioned, successful argument with NIMBY folks, this is _not_ the way to do so. People who own the land & houses in an area are saying they do not want this. No matter how much you say "but I _really_ want it, and it's going to happen" is not going to change that. And they've been winning for _decades_....hop…

It is coming. Tides are already turning as older folks die off and multiples of younger folks want housing.

It is a nationwide problem however. One seaside town ain't gonna cut it.

Re: Santa Cruz is a Housing Nightmare

#96

Post by johnea »

So, I have to agree there is a major shortage of affordable housing.

But, I have to disagree that this is due to a lack of building.

20 years ago, there was no housing crisis. Period.

In 20 years, did the population suddenly increase by 20%?

No, of course it didn't. In fact the US population is very flat in recent decades.

What changed?

Short term rental!!! A huge portion of the housing stock purchased, much by corporate buyers, and converted to AirBnB or VRBO.

The housing crisis is 100% created by the rise of "short term rentals", a phrase that really means: "convert a significant portion of the housing stock into unlicensed hotels".

People paying per night to rent houses are never going to be out-bid by people who want to rent by the month.

This whole BS about "not building enough", is really "not building enough to make up for all the houses now run as hotels".

There has NOT been a population boom. Ask yourself: Why were there enough houses a decade or 2 ago, but not now?

Re: Santa Cruz is a Housing Nightmare

#97

Post by bombcar »

johnea wrote: post #96

So, I have to agree there is a major shortage of affordable housing. But, I have to disagree that this is due to a lack of building. 20 years ago, there was no housing crisis. Period. In 20 years, did the population suddenly increase by 20%? No, of course it didn't. In fact the US population is very flat in recent decades. What changed? Short term rental!!! A huge portion of the housing stock purchased, much by corpo…

Population went from 289 million to 329 million. That’s not nothing.

Re: Santa Cruz is a Housing Nightmare

#98

Post by fragmede »

johnea wrote: post #96

So, I have to agree there is a major shortage of affordable housing. But, I have to disagree that this is due to a lack of building. 20 years ago, there was no housing crisis. Period. In 20 years, did the population suddenly increase by 20%? No, of course it didn't. In fact the US population is very flat in recent decades. What changed? Short term rental!!! A huge portion of the housing stock purchased, much by corpo…

> In 20 years, did the population suddenly increase by 20%?

I hate to break it to you, but let's say the population grew a measly 1% per year. Thanks to the way compounding interest grows, after 20 years, that is about a 20% increase compared to 20 years ago. (1.01^20 = 1.22)

Re: Santa Cruz is a Housing Nightmare

#99

Post by bombcar »

michaelwww wrote: post #65
jltsiren wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not a local, but I've been here for a while. Santa Cruz was already ridiculously unaffordable before the pandemic. Then the pandemic hit, the students went away, and other people moved in. The CZU Fire destroyed many homes in the mountains. Wealthy people from the Bay Area realized that Santa Cruz could be a nice place to live in if they want to work remotely while having the option to visit the office on short notic…

The locals wonder why UCSC doesn't build housing on their land? Admittedly, it's a beautiful spot up on the hill and housing blocks in the meadow would be a crying shame from an aesthetic standpoint. So don't expand the university to preserve the meadow.

UCSC can tunnel into the hill and build hobbit holes.

Re: Santa Cruz is a Housing Nightmare

#100

Post by bombcar »

michaelwww wrote: post #56
jwlstn wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really amazing to try and offer perspective of a "native" with some unique insights about a community only to offer up the same tired NIMBY arguments you hear in every housing-starved city. ANd then to claim that your homeless problem is fine because you put them in a slum tent city with "services" is truly the icing on the cake lol

I guess we could just let the homeless smoke meth and shoot heroin in the Redwood forests like we used to and not do anything

You’re supposed to bus them to San Francisco like any good hearted people would do.
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