Santa Cruz County wanted to learn what kind of housing residents want to see, and where they should put it, and the different needs and barriers residents face. This was key input needed for the Housing Element, one of the seven State-mandated “elements” or chapters of a local jurisdiction’s General Plan. This identifies policies and programs to meet existing and projected housing needs for all segments of the community, including various household types, special needs populations, and all income levels of the jurisdiction.

The County wanted to enroll the community to help identify “adequate sites” to accommodate the estimated growth of 4,634 housing units across a large spread of urban and rural areas. The County was also required to provide the programs, policies, and appropriate zoning to help make that growth viable. CivicMakers ensured that the communities informing this process, and providing their own perspectives, were diverse, had relevant lived experience, and/or had experience in the area of creating equitable housing opportunities.

“I have never experienced a public engagement process like this before; the detail you provide is amazing.” – Santa Cruz County Planning Staff

CivicMakers organized and convened a Stakeholder Group and a Community Panel with 15-20 members on each. These were instrumental in providing local knowledge and lived experience to inform the update, while also helping to meet the State’s robust engagement requirement for the 6th Cycle Housing Element. CivicMakers also led the design and facilitation of two community workshops (one in person and one virtual), and one in-person community open house. All engagements provided the opportunity for the public to weigh in on housing needs & barriers, sustainability, fair housing, housing programs and policies, and what kind of housing to build where.

The stakeholder meetings and public workshops alike were designed to be accessible, trauma informed, multi-lingual, and inclusive. CivicMakers’ facilitators provided a safe, confidential, and respectful container for personal conversations about lived experiences, opinions, and suggestions to flourish. Participants were therefore able to make authentic and actionable recommendations that helped guide the County’s planning work.

“Thanks to your work we extended our abilities to be inclusive and meet equity goals.” – Santa Cruz County Planning Director

Participants of the Community Panel were compensated with stipends in acknowledgement of their time and effort. We explicitly asked participants to share accessibility requests and took care to ensure that all of their needs were met. The meetings were facilitated bi-lingually in Spanish and English. We shared resources for people in crisis related to housing needs at the Community Panel meetings, as well as offering mindfulness practice short breaks after potentially traumatic conversations. With accessibility and inclusivity in mind, all information provided was concise, without jargon, and at a fifth grade reading level.

“I was Impressed with the Spanish translation and interpretation that we were able to offer, thanks to your skills.” – Santa Cruz County Planning Director

The two advisory groups, and three community meetings provided valuable recommendations for the 6th Cycle Housing Element. CivicMakers took care to protect the privacy of individuals when aggregating and summarizing community input into a comprehensive report. Santa Cruz County staff worked tirelessly with a team of experts to create the Housing Element, making frequent reference to the community engagement report. Per Housing Element requirements, the community engagement report was also shared with the State of California’s Housing and Community Development Department.