Housing Matters to close another critical service in Santa Cruz

Housing Matters’ Rebele Family Shelter on Coral Street houses the Recuperative Care Center on its second floor. (Amaya Edwards — Santa Cruz Local/Report for America) SANTA CRUZ A shelter for homeless people recovering from illness or injury will be put on indefinite pause come January due to money problems, nonprofit Housing Matters announced late last week. The recuperative care center provides temporary housing for up to 20 people. Its indefinite closure comes less than a year after the nonprofit cut 20 shelter beds to save money and ended its day services program.  In a statement sent to reporters Oct. 30, Housing Matters CEO Phil Kramer wrote that changes to Medi-Cal reimbursements means the program will be underfunded by at least $600,000 a year. That change, “combined with the program’s existing financial challenges, require us to reassess the RCC’s long-term viability and the role Housing Matters can play in its operation,” Kramer wrote.   “We must honestly assess whether ope