Long-Stalled Veterans Village in Ben Lomond Finally Secures Full Funding
After years of financial setbacks that left only a handful of veterans housed at the former Jaye’s Timberlane Resort, a new $13.3 million tax credit award and a restructured ownership deal are set to finally complete the 20-unit supportive housing community.
Santa Cruz County has secured a critical infusion of financing to complete Veterans Village, a permanent supportive housing development for veterans and their families in Ben Lomond — capping a project that spent years mired in a multimillion-dollar funding gap that left it far short of its original promise.
The county, working with the Santa Cruz County Veterans Memorial Building Board of Trustees and affordable housing developer DANCO Group, announced that the project has been awarded approximately $13.3 million in federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credits over 10 years by the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee, along with tax-exempt bond financing through the California Debt Limit Allocation Committee. Project completion is anticipated in early 2027.
The completed development will renovate 10 existing cabins and a main house at 8705 Highway 9, and add 10 new modular one-bedroom units, office and laundry facilities, and an on-site property manager’s unit. Fifteen Project-Based Section 8 vouchers from the county Housing Authority will ensure long-term operational stability.
“Veterans Village is a great example of what can be accomplished when we think creatively about how to meet our community’s needs,” said Fifth District Supervisor Monica Martinez.
The Backstory
The road to this announcement stretches back nearly five years, beginning with the pandemic and a mountain resort.
Veterans Village was conceived during COVID-19, when the Veterans Memorial Building in Santa Cruz served for 16 months as a 24/7 homeless shelter. That experience galvanized Executive Director Chris Cottingham and a coalition of local veterans organizations to search for a permanent housing solution. In late 2021, they moved to acquire Jaye’s Timberlane Resort and its six acres of redwood-shaded cabins in Ben Lomond.
Early momentum was strong. Community fundraising brought in close to $4.5 million for acquisition. Then, in 2022, the project received a $6.4 million Project Homekey grant from the state, celebrated as the breakthrough that would complete the buildout. By mid-2022, the first veterans had moved in.
But completing the full vision, which involved renovating all the cabins, constructing new modular units, and adding support infrastructure, proved far more expensive than early projections. California’s construction environment, marked by high labor costs and supply chain disruptions, had widened into a multimillion-dollar gap that the initial grants couldn’t bridge. By 2023, the project was stalled, with only a handful of veterans housed and the full buildout at a standstill.
The turning point came when the county and the Veterans Memorial Building Board brought in DANCO Group, an experienced affordable housing developer with a strong track record on Homekey projects. DANCO’s expertise in the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit system — a complex federal financing mechanism largely inaccessible to a small nonprofit — unlocked the $13.3 million award that had been out of reach. To satisfy state grant requirements, a new limited partnership, Ben Lomond Highway 9 LP, was formed between DANCO and the Veterans Memorial Building Board as co-owners.
For veterans advocates, the restructuring required sharing control. But the mission remains unchanged: permanent supportive housing for veterans and their families, in the redwoods of the San Lorenzo Valley.
For inquiries about Veterans Village of Santa Cruz County, contact the Housing for Health Division at info@housingforhealthpartnership.org or (831) 454-7312.
Learn more: vetsvillage.org
(Photo courtesy of Veterans Village)
The San Lorenzo Valley Post is your essential guide to life in the Santa Cruz Mountains. We're dedicated to delivering the latest news, events, and stories that matter to our community. From local government to schools, from environmental issues to the arts, we're committed to providing comprehensive and unbiased coverage. We believe in the power of community journalism and strive to be a platform for diverse voices.
