Health-Housing Project Targets Community Needs

3.7-acre complex is designed to increase access to healthcare and affordable housing for area’s most vulnerable

By Dan Hounsell


When healthcare systems undertake new construction projects that address the most urgent needs of the communities they serve, the result more often than not is a project that meets the needs of all involved.

Consider the case of 1500 Capitola Road, a health and housing campus in the heart of Santa Cruz County’s Live Oak neighborhood that broke ground in May, according to Healthcare Construction+Operations. Nearly 15 percent of Live Oak School District students are homeless, thousands of adults do not have a doctor, and 78 percent of adults on Medi-Cal do not have a dentist. The 3.7-acre health and housing complex is designed to increase access to healthcare and affordable housing for the most vulnerable in the community.

The six-building project’s first phase includes a 20,000-square-foot medical clinic and 11-chair dental clinic. Santa Cruz Community Health has been serving the medical and mental health needs of underserved Santa Cruz County residents since 1980, with a special focus on families. The new clinic will provide medical, behavioral health, specialty, and pediatric care.



June 17, 2021


Topic Area: Construction


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