The Housing Authority recently participated in the annual Santa Cruz Connect (formerly called Project Homeless Connect) at the Kaiser Permanente Arena in downtown Santa Cruz.

Santa Cruz Connect focuses on bringing a large number of services and resources together in the same place at the same time. Hundreds of individuals, corporations, nonprofits, and government agencies provide Santa Cruz Connect and its clients with services such as dental care, eyeglasses, family support, food, HIV testing, housing resources, hygiene products, medical care, mental health services, substance abuse treatment, SSI benefits, legal advice, California identification cards, voice mail, employment counseling, job placement, wheelchair repair, veterinary services, and more.

The Housing Authority staffed a booth at the event, providing attendees with real time information on waiting list placement and status, as well as processing requests for waiting list reinstatement and answering general questions.

For more information about Santa Cruz Connect, please see the story in the Santa Cruz Sentinel. http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/social-affairs/20160524/from-pet-care-to-legal-help-santa-cruz-homeless-get-connected

While I am new to the position of ED, I have worked with the Housing Authority for 12 years as Principal Administrative Analyst and more recently as Acting Deputy Executive Director. In this capacity, I have been involved with every program run by our Agency, including our large federal programs such as the Housing Choice Voucher (Section 8) program and the Low Income Public Housing program, our state and local programs, and I have been involved in the development and implementation of many of our special programs for vulnerable populations, such as our Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (VASH) vouchers for homeless veterans, and our waiting list preference for disabled and medically vulnerable homeless persons.

I believe deeply in the Housing Authority’s mission of promoting access to quality affordable housing, and I have seen the impact that housing stability has on the thousands of low income households served by this Agency. The Housing Authority, and the programs we administer, are a tremendous public asset, providing housing to thousands of individuals and families. Likewise, the individuals and families served by our programs form the bedrock of our community, and include day care providers, paramedics, retail and service workers, and countless other members of our workforce and our rental housing market, that keep our community vibrant.

In my role as ED, it will be my pleasure to work with our families, our staff, and our community to pursue access to quality affordable housing for low income families.