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BEN LOMOND — State officials announced Friday that Santa Cruz County has been granted a second Project Homekey award, in the form of a $10.7 million grant to build a 36-unit apartment building with supportive services in Soquel.

Property owner Novin Development will use modular factory-built construction materials in order to meet an expedited 12-month construction deadline imposed by the state. The housing project, dubbed “Park Haven Plaza,” is designed for individuals who are leaving homelessness, featuring continuous on-site supportive services programs.

During a press conference Friday, Iman Novin, president of Novin Development, thanked elected leaders, including Santa Cruz County 1st District Supervisor Manu Koenig, whose district includes the new development site, for their support.

“This is a basic human need — food, water, shelter,” Novin said. “When I think back to why I do this work, it was transformational for us as a family, when we built our first house in Scotts Valley, to have those roots established and don’t have to change school districts all the time. Housing is just such an important thing, it touches every aspect of our lives.”

Lourdes M. Castro Ramírez, secretary of the California Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency, announced the new award Friday after leading a roundtable event with invited elected officials and community members hosted at the county’s first 20-unit Project Homekey awardee, the Veterans Village in Ben Lomond. Castro Ramírez was gathering general input on the state of housing and homelessness needs in Santa Cruz county and also heard from veterans living on-site.

The new Soquel project is the second of four housing development applications Santa Cruz County submitted in the state’s second round of Homekey funding. Some 50 proposed projects statewide remained “in the pipeline” at the close of the latest round of funding and are competitively eligible for an upcoming $1.3 billion third funding round opening July 1, Castro Ramírez said. Remaining local applications include Housing Matters’ apartment building on River Street in Santa Cruz and the redevelopment of Watsonville’s Rodeway Inn from a COVID-19 shelter into permanent housing.

Assemblymember Mark Stone, D-Scotts Valley, said state lawmakers are regularly asked to explain what is being done to address homelessness since Gov. Gavin Newsom announced his commitment to the issue after his election. The county’s two Project Homekey recipients are “absolutely key to taking the steps to serve populations in Santa Cruz County,” Stone said.

“This is what we’re doing. To Santa Cruz County … over $220 million coming in to us to help us solve this problem,” Stone said at Friday’s press event. Related Articles Housing | California legislators want to help you buy a house with down payment, ‘shared equity’ Housing | Bay Area churches build tiny homes for their homeless neighbors Housing | More California homeowners now eligible for COVID mortgage relief Housing | Scotts Valley Planning Commission to consider mixed-use development at Oak Creek Park Housing | Elderly services search for new home

“I remind the big-city mayors and I remind my colleagues from those big-city areas that the highest per-capita homelessness is here,” Stone added. “There are many reasons for that, but you cannot forget the smaller rural counties when making these broad investments in California. $220 million into Santa Cruz is a big help. There’s more that’s needed, as you all know, but I hope that there’s more to come.”

Plans for the Soquel property, at 2838 Park Ave. have the project set back from the road behind a business complex at 2840 Park Ave. The site currently is set on three vacant wooded parcels, zoned commercial. One of the parcels, a protected riparian corridor, will remain undeveloped, Novin said. The property is bordered by Cabrillo College Drive, near Highway 1 on- and off-ramps and just a half dozen blocks from Cabrillo College’s Aptos campus.

Unlike with the other proposed Project Homekey applications, neighbors were quick to voice organized opposition to the site’s plans. A representative with the Soquel Aptos Community Response Homekey Group said members were still formulating their response to Friday’s announcement and were not yet prepared to comment.

The developer has announced a public meeting later this month to hear community concerns and questions.

Koenig described the latest Homekey award as significant, noting that operating just existing county shelters is already very difficult and costly.

“This money from the state really represents kind of a breakthrough moment, where we’re able to make significant investments in housing — the kind of which we haven’t made before,” Koenig said. “So, this is really huge. It’s the extra mile that’s needed to get us there.”

Koenig said the Board of Supervisors committed more than a year ago to creating an additional 120 units of affordable housing in the unincorporated area. With the two Project Homekey projects, the county was close to 50% of the way toward its goal. He said that for some, however, such projects “can be scary for neighbors.”

“So often, people associate homelessness with the symptoms of the issue — the tents and the trash we see on the street,” Koenig said. “But, we should not confuse that with the cure, which is housing. Because we see over and over again, from experience, that when we provide that housing for people, when we make investments in people, they’re able to invest in themselves and change their own sense of self-identity and begin to give back to their community.”

What: Park Haven Plaza community meeting.

When: 6-8 p.m., June 27.

Where: Cabrillo College’s Erica Schilling Room in Building 450. Free parking in Lots A/B.

Virtual: us06web.zoom.us/j/82998607497.

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