The Google Street View screen grab above (from 2017) shows the Front Street site now occupied by the River Row mixed-use development.
Recent analysis by Lookout Santa Cruz finds that the city's population has decreased by 3.7% since 2020, citing high rents and low wages as primary causes. The declining affordability of Santa Cruz housing has been thoroughly documented: Santa Cruz-Watsonville has been named the least-affordable housing rental market in the country for three years in a row.
At the same time, this blog has noted the creation of a lot of new housing over the past few years. Will an influx of new housing lead to rent reductions? I have seen two cases in the last year where landlords slightly reduced their original asking rents, but that's far from a scientific study.
Will all the new housing reverse the population decline? It's probably still too soon to see a definite trend, but a lot of new housing will have opened by this time next year, so we'll see. Large projects that have opened or will open in the city (including UCSC) this year or late last year include:
* River Row mixed-use (apartments all market rate)
* UCSC student/staff Delaware Apartments (see Changes 119)
* UCSC Kresge College student housing (see Changes 106)
* Pacific Station North Apartments (100% affordable) (first discussed here in 2021! See Changes 22)
* 119 Coral Street (Housing Matters supportive housing - see Changes 55)
Large projects scheduled to open in the next two years include:
* 126 Eucalyptus Street senior housing (see Changes 56)
* Swift Street "workforce" housing (see Changes 120)
* UCSC Student Housing West (see Changes 95)
* Downtown library/housing/garage (see Changes 58)
* 136 River Street mixed-use (see Changes 76)
There may be a others that have broken ground since I last checked!
Outside of the city:
* Cabrillo-UCSC student apartments (see Changes 139)
