In the latest rounds of budget woes, the Santa Cruz Homeless Services Center, in order to balance out the loss of some hoped for grant money, and a food service budget which has caused a deficit for 2 years in a row, will be cuting the Saturday and Sunday afternoon dinners along with staffing cuts, and fewer hours of service. Meanwhile the heavily used HSC's hygiene bay includes 2 washing machines, 4 dryers, 3 showers, and toilets for 2,500 homeless clients. Hours will be cut to 5 days a week instead of seven. But the biggest loss are those two, weekend meals which feed between 65 and 160 people each afternoon.

Shelter which is chronically inadequate, is especially so since the National Guard Armory closed its doors on April 15th. The same people which the City and County sheltered on April 15th, are now being cited with $90 sleeping ban tickets as of April 16th by Santa Cruz Park Ranger Rick Wallace. As soon as the Armory closed, he began issuing a rash of citations to homeless campers in the Pogonip and other greenbelt areas. Read More