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Santa Cruz's LIHTC Affordable Housing: A Three-Decade Commitment in a Coastal City
CATEGORY
Affordable Housing
DATA
LIHTC Projects
Median Income
Racial Distributions
Population
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Affordable Housing
LIHTC Projects
Median Income
Racial Distributions
Population
Santa Cruz, a coastal city in California, maintains a Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) funded affordable housing inventory of 671 total units, with 605 designated as low-income units. This inventory represents approximately 2.71% of the city's estimated 24,753 housing units. The city has received $10,163,625 in project tax credits through the LIHTC program, distributed across approximately 14 projects.
The average federal funding per project is $725,973, with an average of $15,146 per unit. Santa Cruz's share of the total state LIHTC funding is 0.33%. The city's involvement in LIHTC-funded affordable housing began in 1993 with the completion of El Centro and La Playa projects, and continues to the present, with the most recent project, Ocean Street Apartments, finished in 2021.
The 2000s saw the most affordable housing development activity in Santa Cruz. The LIHTC-funded projects offer a diverse range of unit types, including 52 efficiencies, 257 one-bedrooms, 126 two-bedrooms, 143 three-bedrooms, and 8 four-bedrooms, addressing various household sizes and needs.
Demographic trends from 2017 to 2019 show a slight decrease in Santa Cruz's population from 65,028 to 64,605. The median income increased from $71,442 in 2017 to $90,855 in 2019, potentially indicating a growing need for affordable housing options as the cost of living rises. Racial distribution data from 2018 to 2019 demonstrates a relatively stable composition, with a slight increase in the Hispanic population and a small decrease in the Asian population.
Santa Cruz has maintained a consistent commitment to affordable housing through the LIHTC program over the past three decades. While the current inventory of LIHTC-funded units represents a small portion of the city's estimated housing stock, the diverse range of unit types and the continued development of new projects indicate ongoing efforts to address affordable housing needs. The rising median income in recent years underscores the importance of these efforts in maintaining housing accessibility for lower-income residents in this coastal city.
