Thomas Paul says he needs permanent housing more than he needs a temporary managed camp. Paul has been part of the Downtown Streets Team and cleaned streets in Downtown Santa Cruz. (Kara Meyberg Guzman — Santa Cruz Local file)

Editor’s note: This is the first story in a three-part series on homeless services spending in Santa Cruz County. Read part two, part three and how this series was made.

SANTA CRUZ >> Tens of millions of state, federal and local government dollars fueled homeless services in Santa Cruz County from 2019 to 2021, but the story of how that money was spent and its outcomes has been a challenge to tell — even for the people closest to the money.

Santa Cruz Local investigated how local governments spent more than $126 million of public money for homeless services in those years.

Although Santa Cruz County leaders have to account for every dollar spent on homeless services in the county budget and report on spending from state grants, there still is not a clear way for residents to understand how money is spent on homeless services and the outcomes.

Santa Cruz Local’s charts below categorize homeless services spending. Public spending data on homeless services in the county has never been presented in this way.

How the charts were made

To follow the money, Santa Cruz Local made public records requests about homeless services spending from 2019 to 2021 in Santa Cruz County and in the cities of Santa Cruz, Watsonville, Capitola and Scotts Valley.

After reporters received dozens of grant reports and many other documents, reporters followed up for months with interviews, emails and more records requests to track when grant money was received and spent, and how it was used. With that information, Santa Cruz Local formed 14 categories of homeless services spending and created six interactive charts that explain how money was spent in fiscal year 2019-2020 and fiscal year 2020-2021. For local governments, fiscal years start July 1 and end June 30.