SANTA CRUZ >> A public presentation this week touting city progress made in addressing homelessness issues was bookended by at least three people dying on the streets.

According to the Santa Cruz Police Department, the frequency of such deaths is the norm, rather than the exception.

“Whether it’s medical-related, health-related or narcotics-related, we probably average one or two a week,” Deputy Chief Jon Bush said.

Shortly before 10 a.m. Wednesday morning, officers’ separate responses to two individuals who had died briefly overlapped. One involved a response to a woman found near drug paraphernalia on railroad tracks connecting to a sprawling tent encampment lining Coral Street in the Harvey West neighborhood. Toxicology results were pending in that death, but the woman was identified as Kianakeo Vasquez, 39, according to Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Ashley Keehn.

Shortly after, officers assisting with the cleanup of an encampment in the northern tip of the city’s Arana Gulch green space, near Capitola Road, discovered a deceased individual inside a tent. The officer advised dispatchers that there was “no need for fire, he’s been here a long time.” Bush said signs pointed toward a death that had occurred at least two months earlier. Details about the man were not available Friday from the coroner’s division.

Then, around 11:30 a.m. Thursday, emergency responders were called to Market Street, beneath the Water Street bridge, for a man the caller told dispatchers was “beyond any help.” He was later identified as Wayne Spann, 71, according to Keehn. Bush said the three deaths of people experiencing homelessness he was aware of this week were not considered suspicious in nature.

Meanwhile, Wednesday night’s Zoom webinar “Homelessness Response Update” came just a week before city voters must cast their ballot for Measure L sales and use tax, which echos 2022’s narrowly failed Measure F tax ballot measure. While the sale tax, if approved by voters, would flow into the city’s general fund for unspecified uses, advocates have touted the effort as a way to address homeless encampment cleanup, provide homeless services and support affordable housing, among other benefits.

Written questions and calls to city officials for comment related to this week’s deaths and the reported bacterial outbreak of shigellosis, with a hotspot located near a homeless encampment in Santa Cruz’s Friendship Garden, part of the Harvey West neighborhood, were not returned this week.

The three-year Homelessness Response Action Plan, approved by the Santa Cruz City Council in spring 2022, initially established some $27 million in spending priorities. The plan divided response goals as building capacity and partnerships, permanent affordable and supportive housing, basic support services, care and stewardship and community safety. Funding to back the plan thus far has largely come from a one-time $14 million state homeless grant facilitated by Sen. John Laird in 2021 and some federal grant funding.

During Wednesday’s presentation, city Homeless Response Manager Larry Imwalle said the city was about at the homeless response plan’s halfway point and officials were looking to update its goals for a three-year plan renewal. He stressed the city’s priorities as continuing to support shelter and safe-sleeping programs, in particular.

“One of our big goals, one of our big challenges is really obtaining ongoing sustainable funding to support the city’s homelessness response,” Imwalle said. “That is not unique to the city of Santa Cruz. Really, we hear from jurisdictions all across the state as well as counties, that a lot of the funding to do homelessness services is based off of one-time grants.”

Santa Cruz city authorities only recently began to directly take on homeless response efforts, typically referring the job to Santa Cruz County, which directly receives ongoing state funds. During this presentation, officials touted their efforts to move 121 people from the streets into long-term stable housing, reconnecting 109 people with family and friends and a 29% homelessness population decrease between 2022 and 2023, in addition to the development approvals of more than 960 new affordable housing units. The full presentation is available online at cityofsantacruz.com/homelessness.