General Election - November 5, 2024

General Election - November 5, 2024

Santa Cruz YIMBY Endorsements

Cheat Sheet

Explanations for endorsements are below.

Santa Cruz County Supervisor

Kristen Brown

Monica Martinez

Capitola City Council

Melinda Orbach

Scotts Valley City Council

John Lewis

California Ballot Propositions

Yes on Prop 5

⛔️ No on Prop 33

Endorsement Explanations

Santa Cruz County Supervisor

Kristen-Image sm

Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors District 2

Kristen Brown

Kristen has built up her experience in local government and housing policy through her time on the Capitola City Council, and through her roles with AMBAG, Metro and the RTC. We believe her move from the city of Capitola to the county will allow Kristen to broaden and strengthen her pro-housing and pro-transit voice.

“Promoting housing affordability and accessibility isn't just a policy goal - it's a commitment to fostering vibrant, inclusive communities where everyone has the opportunity to thrive. Embracing housing as a fundamental human right and allowing responsible development helps us build not just houses, but bridges to a more equitable and prosperous future where both current residents and future generations can build a life in this beautiful place we are fortunate to call home.”
Endorsing chapters
  • Santa Cruz YIMBY
Martinez-Image crop

Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors District 5

Monica Martinez

Monica has dedicated her professional career to housing vulnerable communities, particularly persons experiencing homelessness, both in the greater Los Angeles area and in Santa Cruz County. She has a long record of working with the County and community partners to understand the processes and needs of county residents, and is an advocate for density, walkable neighborhoods, and housing near transit.

“My position is pretty simple; I believe we need far more housing near jobs, walkable neighborhoods, and transit that is affordable at all income levels – low-income housing, workforce housing and market rate housing. We need to keep increasing infill density over time so that we can get back to a healthier housing market, continue to have a diversity of people and a local workforce, and continue to ensure that our natural and working lands are preserved from sprawl. Additionally, we need to do everything we can to support those who are rebuilding after the CZU fire and other climate related disasters.”
Endorsing chapters
  • Santa Cruz YIMBY

Capitola City Council

MelindaOrbach

Capitola

Melinda Orbach

Melinda is a nurse, mom of three, and Capitola resident running for City Council. She wants Capitola to do its fair share to produce more housing, especially for families and seniors. Some policies she touches on wanting to implement are streamlining permitting by allowing a Zoning Administrator to approve zoning-compliant projects, removing subjective design standards, and allowing more housing types throughout the city. In 2022, she supported the city's adoption of objective design standards and more recently supported the two 100% affordable housing projects proposed within Capitola. She is also in favor of expanding METRO service to Capitola, increasing the number of BCycle docks, and working with the RTC to implement Rail Trail segments 10 and 11 as quickly as possible.

Similar to my view on health care, housing should be a right and not a privilege. As one of the wealthiest nations in the world, we should be able to provide the housing necessary for all people to live near their work. I respect human dignity and believe in housing for all.
Endorsing chapters
  • Santa Cruz YIMBY

Scotts Valley City Council

John Lewis - Scotts Valley

Scotts Valley

John Lewis

John is a Scotts Valley resident running for City Council. Some of his main policy goals include legalizing more missing middle housing, making sure impact fees are not burdensome, and increasing housing production/availability within the city. He wants to see more development along Scotts Valley Drive to "fill in the blank spaces". He'd also like to see a larger portion of the transportation budget go toward pedestrian and bicycle projects to increase safety, reduce congestion, and increase foot traffic to local businesses. John is also a YIMBY member and notes that while outside of his jurisdiction, supports the Food Bin and Clocktower projects and points to SB 4, 9, and 423 as favored pro-housing legislation.

We must invest in new housing so those looking to invest their lives in our community have an opportunity to do so.
Endorsing chapters
  • Santa Cruz YIMBY

California Ballot Propositions

Yes on Prop 5

✅ Yes

Yes on Prop 5

We support Prop 5 because we support more funding for affordable housing. Prop 5 would make it easier for local governments to raise money for affordable housing by allowing bonds to pass with 55% of the vote. This will make it easier for the state legislature to pass bills that fund housing and critical public infrastructure. We wholeheartedly support this effort.

This campaign needs a lot of help to get across the finish line, so sign up for more information here.

No on 33

⛔️ No

No on Prop 33

We oppose Prop 33 because it would allow NIMBY cities to completely block new housing, driving up the cost of housing for everyone over the long term.

Prop 33 would repeal the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act, a 1995 state law that generally prevents local governments from limiting what landlords can charge new tenants when they first move in. It also prevents cities from limiting rent increases that existing tenants can be charged in housing built on or after Feb. 1, 1995.

YIMBY Action has supported measures that would curb dramatic year-over-year increases in rent, such as the 2019 anti-rent gouging measure in the CA Legislature (AB 1482). But Prop 33 is poorly written and will allow wealthy cities to block new affordable homes from being built.

Prop 33 blocks the state from putting any reasonable checks on local rent control policies, allowing local governments to “maintain, enact or expand residential rent control.” This is a recipe for systemic denial of new housing because wealthy cities constantly look for ways to avoid building more homes. We can already see what anti-housing jurisdictions are planning, for example Former Huntington Beach Mayor Tony Strickland has already openly stated that he’s excited for this measure because it will allow them to block new homes.

We oppose Prop 33 because it is poorly written and will give wealthy communities a powerful tool to block housing all income levels.

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