
Earlier this month, the Santa Cruz City Council had the audacity to reject a crucial proposal aimed at eliminating the unfair treatment of older ADUs compared to those built since 2020, despite the clear recommendations from their own Planning Department. This was a missed opportunity to rectify an inequity created when the state outlawed owner-occupancy requirements.
We need to take action! I’m sharing comments from community members who have passionately articulated the issue.
Here’s a statement from a local architect who made his disappointment known on the night of the decision:
After years of changes to state law, planning staff work, stakeholder input, public hearings, and policy development battling to ease our community’s housing challenges, on Tuesday night the Council somehow managed to drag us all back into the clutches of the same anti-growth sentiment that has created those challenges in the first place.
With very little evidence, and despite the fact that the decision will worsen housing affordability, scarcity, and inequity, a bare majority has harmed housing prospects for tenants, those hoping to purchase a less expensive home of their own, and a newly-minted underclass of ADU owners that have provided some of the most affordable rental housing in the City for several decades.
And here is a more recent post from a member of a local community watchdog group, calling for renters and owners alike to be heard on this matter:
It would appear all is not lost. Even though the city council voted 4-2 against removing the owner occupancy deed restriction for our ADUs, it appears that there will be a second reading of the rest of the ordinance on 10/22. WE NEED TO SHOW UP AT THIS MEETING AND EXPRESS OUR OPINIONS AND REQUEST THAT THEY REMOVE THE OWNER OCCUPANCY RESTRICTIONS. If enough of us show up, it will make a difference and it is possible that the vote could be reversed. If you cannot attend the 10/22 meeting in person, you need to call in via zoom or phone during public comment for the item and express your feelings about it.
In addition, please write or call your city councilperson NOW and express why you want to have the owner occupancy requirement removed from our deeds. I think they really may not understand the impact and we need to explain it to them and ask them to support us in removing it.
Contact Info Available at www.cityofsantacruz.com/government/city-council/councilmembers
Please write them an email in the next few days. If you know someone else who has an ADU in the City of Santa Cruz and is not on this list, let them know what is happening and ask them to write and show up for the 10/22 meeting.
If our owner occupancy requirements are not removed on 10/22, there is no telling how long we will have to wait for this issue to come up again on their agenda. We waited three years for it to come up this time. Please help by writing and going to the meeting. I can't stress enough how important it is to their final decision. Your voice matters!
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