Conversations for Change: The Santa Cruz County Housing Crisis: Renters and Homeowners Working Together

Affordable Housing has become a growing issue in many areas of the United States. For the past few years, Santa Cruz has been rated as having the least affordable housing (renters and homebuyers), of any small city in the US, when taking into consideration cost of housing and average wages. Many factors influence this reality.

How do we as a community address the loss of families who can no longer afford to live here? How do we preserve an economically diverse base of workers? How can parents ensure that their grown children can continue to live in the community in which they've been raised? How can we preserve the rights of both renters and landlords? How can renters, landlords, and homeowners work together to solve this complex problem?

THIS HOSTED CONVERSATION USES A PROCESS CALLED ‘LIVING ROOM CONVERSATIONS’ TO FIND COMMON GROUND AMONG INDIVIDUALS WHO MAY HAVE DIFFERING VIEWPOINTS. CONVERSATION GUIDELINES ASSURE THERE IS NO DEBATE BUT INSTEAD, RESPECTFUL CONVERSATION.