Building on what the county has accomplished over the past five years in housing nearly 21,000 people,\u00a0officials want to help 15,000 more people obtain permanent housing by 2030. They also want to increase aid to help residents avoid being evicted\u00a0by providing rental assistance to 3,000 households annually.<\/p>\n
The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously approved the plan, and asked for periodic updates on\u00a0how it is being implemented, as well as\u00a0how each part of the county will tackle homelessness.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have so many proof points that the model works, it is simply not at scale,\u201d District 4 Supervisor Susan Ellenberg said at the meeting. \u201cBeing able to continue along the same path is very critical \u2026 and extraordinarily more challenging right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
The county is facing unprecedented headwinds in its efforts to reduce homelessness. In addition to having a record population<\/a> of\u00a0approximately 10,700 homeless people, the county is facing budgetary challenges<\/a> due to federal cuts \u2014 and shifting attitudes toward homelessness and what constitutes best-practice solutions.<\/p>\n President Donald Trump\u2019s administration has made a marked shift on where it wants federal funding to go, with a focus on temporary housing that\u2019s tied to requirements such as work, sobriety or how often someone must see a case manager. The county is involved in a legal battle<\/a> to preserve federal Continuum of Care grants for affordable housing rather than temporary solutions.<\/p>\n The 2024 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Grants Pass v. Johnson<\/a> opened the door for\u00a0homelessness to be criminalized, including San Jose\u2019s bevy of policies that increased sweeps, RV bans<\/a>, citations and arrests<\/a> for\u00a0people who refuse offers of shelter and more.<\/p>\n On top of that, the county\u2019s funds for Measure A, \u00a0approved by voters in 2016 to inject $950 million into affordable housing, has dried up. Some developments that received funds have yet to come online, but county officials are looking for how they will continue to fund affordable housing.<\/p>\n With limited funding, the county wants to hone in on preventing homelessness<\/a> before it starts by providing rental assistance \u2014 a cost-effective model that limits the impacts homelessness can have on an individual, Ray Bramson, chief operating officer at nonprofit Destination: Home and a San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight columnist,<\/a> said.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople are facing severe economic hardships,\u201d Bramson, who served on the steering committee for the community plan, told San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight. \u201cHomelessness prevention is all about trying to provide people the support they need as quickly as possible to keep them in their homes. We have to make sure that our community is stable and strong in the months and years ahead, and we have to make sure that fewer people become homeless in the first place.\u201d<\/p>\n Santa Clara County provided more than 38,000 people with homelessness prevention assistance from 2020 to 2025. It is a system that served about 2,700 households last year, providing an average of $7,000 per household.<\/p>\n A randomized control trial found 90% of people who received this assistance in the county remained housed two years later, according to data collected<\/a> by the University of Notre Dame\u2019s Wilson Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunities.<\/p>\n The county wants to lean further into creating private and philanthropic partnerships to fund these efforts.<\/p>\n One new component is that each region will come up with an individualized plan to meet the needs of\u00a0its homeless residents. There will be four regional plans submitted in September: one that encompasses North County, where places such as Mountain View are dealing with a large RV homeless population; South County, which grapples with high poverty rates; West Valley<\/a>, which has a dearth of services<\/a>; and San Jose, which\u00a0has the largest homeless population at 6,503 residents, according to a 2025 point-in-time count.<\/p>\n The county will work with city staff from each region to come up with the individualized plans. The county will ask cities to sign onto the general community plan starting in the fall.<\/p>\n \u201cHaving a community-wide approach to addressing and ending homelessness is critical to help cities, the county and other entities in our community align limited resources and scale up proven strategies across our community,\u201d Kathryn Kaminski, director of the county Office of Supportive Housing, told San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight. \u201cThe community plan serves as our North Star and blueprint for ending homelessness.\u201d<\/p>\n
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