Judy Williams Decides Something CAN be Done about Santa Cruz Housing

Judy Williams Decides Something CAN be Done about Santa Cruz Housing

- by Paul O'Brien

Everyone knows there is a housing crisis in Santa Cruz County. It's in the news every week and hardly a conversation goes by that doesn't eventually turn to the latest horror story about the rents people are paying, or friends who have left the County because they could no longer afford to live here. Santa Cruz is the second least affordable housing market in the country, trailing only San Francisco.

For mental health clients, the situation is even worse. When a room in shared housing costs $600 and more, trying to survive on an income of $700/month is impossible. A place of one's own has become unaffordable and unavailable. Not surprisingly, the number of mental health clients who are homeless or living in crowded, stressful situations is rising rapidly. While many of us are feeling frustrated and hopeless about this situation, one NAMI-SCC Board member decided to do something about it.

Judy Williams decided she had enough of the fickle stock market: she wanted to make a contribution to her community and do something more useful with her money. She decided that maybe, by partnering up with an organization experienced in providing affordable housing, she could do something to ease the housing crunch for at least a few mental health clients. She approached Paul O'Brien of Community Support Services (SCCSS) with a proposal: she would put together enough money for the down payment to purchase a house if SCCSS would master lease the house from her and rent the rooms out at an affordable rent (at least for Santa Cruz!) to clients of the County mental health system. SCCSS would guarantee the rent, manage the property, take care of all the tenant issues, and take care of all the minor repairs and maintenance issues. Judy would hold the property until such time as SCCSS can secure sufficient funding in the form of grants or low interest loans to purchase the property back from her and assure that it becomes permanent affordable housing in perpetuity.

The beauty of Judy's generous proposal is that it addresses multiple needs. The most obvious, of course, is that it helps to address the current housing need. It also provides Judy with an opportunity to make a financial investment that is also a meaningful investment in her community - an investment that will have a permanent impact for the good. Perhaps less obvious is that her plan gives the housing developer - SCCSS in this case - the site control and time needed to secure the grants and low cost financing necessary to make the housing permanently affordable. Not surprisingly, the competition for affordable housing funds is intense and having control of an identifiable site is a critical advantage. Even when awarded, it generally takes several years to finalize one of these projects.

You might not be able to do exactly what Judy is doing, but there may be other ways you could make an impact on the housing problem. If you have a house that you might be willing to lease to SCCSS at a rate that would make it affordable for mental health clients, SCCSS would guarantee the rent and take over all the property management issues for you. Maybe it's a house that is already paid for - or one that you have had for years with a mortgage that seems absurdly low by today's standards. If this might be of interest to you - even if you would just like to explore the idea further - call Paul O'Brien at Community Support Services - 459-0444. He will be glad to discuss it with you. It could be an opportunity to make a lasting contribution to mental health community.

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