Lookout Santa Cruz: Before the headlines, a snapshot from downtown Santa Cruz

Santa Cruz Mayor Fred Keeley speaks to the crowd at Thursday's kickoff event for a housing funding measure supporters aim to get on the November ballot.

After nearly two years of discussion and negotiation, a group of Santa Cruz politicians and housing advocates on Thursday began circulating a petition for a measure to fund housing that it hopes to place on the ballot in November.

The group officially introduced the petition for what it’s calling the Workforce Housing Solutions Act with a sizable event outside the new, 65-unit affordable housing complex at 525 Cedar St. in downtown Santa Cruz. 

The proposed funding measure could raise around $5 million per year, deriving revenue from a pair of new taxes: an annual $96 tax on every individual parcel throughout the city and a 0.5-2% real estate transfer tax tacked onto home sales greater than $1.8 million.

The petition will need nearly 4,000 signatures from city of Santa Cruz voters over the next 180 days to qualify for the November ballot. – Christopher Neely