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In anticipation of opening up to clients before the end of the year, public officials and service providers on Friday hosted a media tour of a new homeless shelter in Watsonville that has been years in the making. The Watsonville Low Barrier Navigation Center, known in shorthand as the “tiny village,” was unveiled to a handful of reporters who toured the facility at 118 1st St. in Watsonville alongside project leaders from public and private sectors.

Santa Cruz County is reporting a 20.4% decline in homelessness based on preliminary data from the point-in-time count conducted in January, with final numbers expected in December. This has been a problem area for the county, with many homeless encampments springing up along the Pajaro River levee, and efforts to remove them are ongoing.

The most recent PIT count shows that the numbers of Santa Cruz County residents experiencing homelessness dropped 20% from those of last year to the lowest number in the count’s history. Volunteers on Jan. 30 counted 1,473 homeless people in the annual Point in Time (PIT) count, whose results were released Thursday by the Santa Cruz County Housing for Health Partnership (H4HP).

The number of people experiencing homelessness in Santa Cruz County dropped to the lowest level ever recorded this year, according to an annual count released Thursday. But the progress masks concerning increases in some parts of the county and among older adults and people with disabilities. Overall, the annual point-in-time (PIT) report found that the county’s homeless population fell 20%, from 1,850 last year to 1,473 this year.

New results from Santa Cruz show that the number of people experiencing homelessness is now at the lowest point in the county's history. According to the County's Housing for Health Partnership (H4HP), the 2025 homeless Point-in-Time (PIT) Count identified 1,473 people experiencing homelessness in santa Cruz County, a 20 percent drop compared to last year's number of 1,850.

Santa Cruz County is preparing to break ground on a new transitional housing facility capable of providing a temporary residence to dozens of people in need. Construction activities, including demolition work, for a 32-bed facility at 2202 Soquel Ave. in Santa Cruz will commence in the coming days, the county announced in a recent press release.