Casa Azul

2-story Historic Victorian renovated to 7 units of permanent supportive housing to expand homeless services campus. Casa Azul in Santa Cruz is a project with a single goal: to provide permanent housing for local people experiencing long-term homeless.

Outdoor area with picnic table, blue building, plants, and utility pole

LOCATION

Santa Cruz, California

Scale

4,329 GSF
7 Studios & One-Bedroom Dwelling Units(DUs) averaging 430 SF each.

STATUS

Completed 2023

Services

Architecture, Construction Management, Renovation

Expertise

Historic Renovation

Expanding campus and services

Purchased by Housing Matters in 2010, from the beginning the project was intended to be used by members of a growing homeless population of Santa Cruz County. It is now an integrated part of the organization's campus co-located at with other homeless services and support facilities.

Aerial view of a city intersection at dusk, featuring roads with light traffic, illuminated buildings, trees, and surrounding urban landscape with a mix of commercial and residential structures.

The project consisted of renovating an existing 4,300 SF historically-listed Victorian house into seven units of permanent supportive housing for long-term homeless residents of Santa Cruz.

View of a suburban street from a wooden deck, featuring a red apartment building, trees, power lines, and parked cars.

Proximity to an established centralized services center offers residents of Casa Azul direct access to crucial support and community programming as they transition into permanent housing.

Red front door with glass panel, blue exterior walls, and address numbers 201 and 202 displayed beside the door.

Community Value

The crisis of homelessness is a complex challenge in in our region. Workbench is proud to have collaborated with Housing Matters and their vision to house those in need with dignity.

Victorian-style house with bright blue siding and contrasting red trim, featuring decorative elements and large windows under a clear sky.
Bright kitchen with wooden cabinets, a table with two stools, large windows, a potted plant, and an espresso machine on the counter.
Workers renovating an elevated historic house with support beams, wearing protective gear, surrounded by construction equipment and materials.

Historic made useful

The original house was built as a single story residence on an ~6’ tall crawl space. To add additional units to the building, it was lifted at the outset of construction, the foundation was replaced, and 2’ of height was added to the crawl-space, making it habitable.

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Colaborators

Civil: C2G
Mechanical, Plumbing, T24: Monterey Energy Group
Electrical: Prime Design Group
Geotech: Butano Geotechnical Engineering
Structural: G Reynolds & Associates
Historic: Interactive Resources
Survey: Robert J. Craig
Title-24: App-Tech, Inc.
CASp: Eagle Project Management

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