New state report shows increase in state limit on low-income eligibility for housing
SANTA CRUZ, CALIF. (KION-TV)- A new state report highlights the growing severity of the housing crisis in Santa Cruz County.
The report reveals that a two-person household earning $127,000 per year now qualifies as low income. In 2016, that figure was just $64,000, illustrating how rapidly the cost of living has increased.
“What’s happening is, we’re getting pigeonholed into $3,000, $4,000, even $5,000 rents for a one- or two-bedroom. What we need to do is continue to build at the level of which people are getting paid for in this county,” Elaine Johnson executive director housing santa cruz county said.
Santa Cruz renters say they are paying more and getting less in return.
“Just being in downtown. But even if I wasn’t downtown, I have friends who pay probably $100, $200 less than me. And they are still it's just really expensive for not what you expect paying at that price,” Sean Lee said.
While developers are trying to build more affordable housing, the county says delays are making projects more expensive.
“When projects get held up for two, three, four, or five years, we’re talking hundreds of thousands of dollars more to now pay to build it, because the material has gone up. And so that has to be recovered somewhere,” Johnson said.
The problem extends beyond housing. Many believe it's a wage issue as well.
“The county and the city are really looking at how much they're paying the people and how can they increase it,” Johnson said.
“The county should raise the minimum wage. I believe in Santa Cruz County, it matches the state minimum wage, which is $16.50. And that's just not enough to pay any sort of rent,” Lee said.
More and more people are leaving Santa Cruz County during the day to find work elsewhere, often over the hill in neighboring regions.
“Major STEM jobs are out there, but the majority of people living here don’t have those jobs. They’re living based on the jobs we have directly here, and they can’t really sustain themselves with the rent that people are asking for,” Lee said.
Local officials say they are taking steps to address the shortage of affordable housing.
“We just stood up in front of the Board of Supervisors last week to move forward. Rezoning, like 42 to 47 different properties. And within those, some of them are going to be low and very low income housing,” Johnson said.
Sean Lee, a Santa Cruz resident, says he’s paying about $1,500 in rent and living with a roommate to afford it.
“I didn’t feel like the price that I was paying reflected the amenities. It more so felt like I was paying because I was so close to downtown, even though I was basically paying $800 for half of a single room,” Sean Lee said.
A chart from Santa Cruz County shows that the area median income is now $132,800. Yet even households earning close to that amount are struggling to keep up.
“I think everyone needs affordable housing. I mean, it’s not like our salary-to-rent ratio here is very good in terms of what people are paying for this area and what they're expecting for rent,” Lee said.
According to the state report, Santa Cruz isn’t alone. Several counties in California now consider individuals and families earning six-figure incomes eligible for low-income housing programs.
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SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KION-TV) -- A new report from the California Department of Housing and Community Development shows the goal posts are changing once again when it comes to who is considered low-income in the state.
It's a metric that's considered when low-income housing programs determine who is eligible.
In some California counties, even a six-figure salary would qualify for low-income housing programs.
KION looked at low-income limits for a two-person household for the years 2016, 2024 and 2025.
Back in 2016, the low-income designation was listed for the following counties:
- SANTA CRUZ: $64,550
- MONTEREY: $48,750
- SAN BENITO: $51,550
The state income limits for those considered low-income has gone up drastically since then.
The following numbers are for 2025:
- SANTA CRUZ: $127,000
- MONTEREY: $92,600
- SAN BENITO: $85,600
Each of the above numbers are an increase from 2024, too, as shown below:
- SANTA CRUZ: $116,250
- MONTEREY: $84,800
- SAN BENITO: $78,350
To look at additional reports from 2016 to 2025 and study other income designations in this year's report click here
Low-income eligibility levels jumped for individuals by 8.8% from last year in the San Francisco Bay Area and Santa Clara County.
A similar increase was reported in Sacramento, Placer and El Dorado counties, along with Los Angeles and San Diego counties.
Some home loan brokers tell CBS Sacramento they use the annual report to help clients "so it sets the rules on who can apply for some income-based loan programs."
