San Jose Department of Housing - Homeless Services

In 2000, the National Alliance to End Homelessness released A Plan, Not a Dream: How to End Homelessness in Ten Years. Using research on innovative programs from around the country, the plan outlined key strategies to ending homelessness. Since its release, over 300 communities have developed Ten Year Plans to End Homelessness. For more information about the National Alliance to End Homelessness, please visit www.endhomelessness.org

In 2003, the City of San José Housing Department completed a Homeless Strategy to eliminate chronic homelessness within ten years. The strategy recommended the following actions:

In 2005, Santa Clara County released its Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness.

The City of San José works closely with Destination: Home, an initiative that implements the recommendations of the recent Blue Ribbon Commission on Ending Homelessness and Solving the Affordable Housing Crisis in Santa Clara County. The Blue Ribbon Commission compiled the recommendations from the Homeless Strategy and the County Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness and came up with the following actions:

RECOMMENDATION - Outreach and engagement to chronically homeless residents.
HOW - Improve access to services by creating a program that will provide a consistent and dependable presence on the streets where chronically unhoused people congregate. Build relationships, rapport and trust. Make information accessible, bring resources to those living outdoors so as to connect them to appropriate services and housing.
RECENT PROGRESS - County-wide coordinated effort through the facilitation of an Outreach and Engagement Committee of the Santa Clara County Collaborative on Affordable Housing and Homeless Issues. Implemented a Homeless Liaison Program through the San Jose Police Department.

RECOMMENDATION - Institutional outreach and discharge planning from foster care system, health care, or corrections facilities.
HOW - Develop a consistent system to connect those discharged into homelessness with appropriate services and housing.
RECENT PROGRESS - County-wide coordinated effort through the facilitation of a Discharge Planning Committee of the Santa Clara County Collaborative on Affordable Housing and Homeless Issues, which includes participation of staff from local jails. Launched a Medical Respite Facility in October of 2008, which is supported by nine private hospitals.

RECOMMENDATION - Implement a medical respite facility.
HOW - The program provides those discharged from the hospital or emergency room a safe, clean environment to recover, recuperate, connect to benefits and housing rather than return to the street or other uninhabitable area.
RECENT PROGRESS - As of August 2009, the medical respite facility, located at EHC LifeBuilders’ One-Stop Homeless Prevention Center, has saved 261 days of hospital care, worth more than $500,000. A day at the respite center costs under $100.

RECOMMENDATION - Establish a One-Stop Homeless Prevention Center.
HOW - To eliminate the need to go all over town for services, the multi-service center provides homeless and at risk residents with an array of services at one site, including medical services, benefits enrollment, job search and placement, housing location and financial assistance, workshops, case management, food, and more.
RECENT PROGRESS - Two One-Stop Homeless Prevention Centers opened in December 2008 at EHC LifeBuilders’ Boccardo regional Reception Center and InnVision’s Georgia Travis Center. Both have been very successful in linking homeless and at-risk individuals and families with permanent supportive housing and other services.

RECOMMENDATION - Shift to a Housing First model by providing permanent affordable housing with supportive services.
HOW - Homeless residents will achieve stability in permanent housing if that housing is good quality, affordable, and service enriched. Provide housing as quickly as possible as it is the most cost effective approach with the greatest chance for success. Access to affordable units and/or subsidies, as well as case management, is essential.
RECENT PROGRESS - The Housing Authority of the County of Santa Clara set aside 200 Section 8 housing vouchers annually for chronically homeless residents. Destination: Home has located funding to include case management services for voucher recipients.

For information to End Homelessness and Solve the Affordable Housing Crisis, please read the Executive Summary for the Blue Ribbon Commission. To learn more about Destination: Home, please visit http://destinationhome.ning.com

Through collaborative efforts, the City of San José and the broader Santa Clara County community have made strides in addressing homelessness and implementing structural improvements to its vast homeless service system. We know the current status of homelessness in Santa Clara County primarily from the 2009 Santa Clara County Homeless Census and Survey. To learn more about homelessness within the City of San Jose, please refer to the 2009 San Jose Homeless Census and Survey.