Data published this Tuesday, May 30, revealed that the number of homeless people in the Santa Clara County decreased 1.2 percent compared to last year, according to preliminary results from the Poin-in-Time ?PIT? from 2023, while in the San José city limits it fell 4.7 percent.
The reported progress, the county said, is the result of implementing a comprehensive response to homelessness, which has included building thousands of new affordable housing units, expanding homelessness prevention assistance , expansion of outreach and basic needs services, and pilot testing of new temporary housing and shelter models.
However, he said, solving the severe homelessness crisis will require continued and focused investment from all community partners.
"The PIT count is just an overnight snapshot, so it's imprecise, but we can use the data, collected over time, as one of many tools to help us better understand the state of homelessness." in Santa Clara County," said Consuelo Hernandez, director of the County Office of Supportive Housing.
The current figures, compared to previous years, indicate that the crisis has not worsened despite the national and local economic consequences, he said, however, the needs in the community continue to grow, so efforts should continue to be focused on expand the overall capacity of the supportive housing system.
Preliminary data from this year's PIT shows that there was a 4 percent decrease in the number of people without shelter. The figures also point out that there is a 7.8 percent increase in protected persons, as community jurisdictions have expanded interim housing and temporary shelter options in recent years.
"This year's tally shows that our investments in permanent housing, transitional housing and prevention are beginning to gain traction and the homelessness crisis appears to be leveling off," said Jacky Morales-Ferrand, director of the City of Housing Department. Saint Joseph.
“While it is reassuring to see tangible evidence that our investments are moving us in the right direction, the tally is also a reminder that thousands of people are still suffering on our streets. We must continue to push as hard as we can so that all our neighbors have safe and decent housing, and prevent more people from becoming homeless,” he added.
The 2023 PIT count also provided information on trends among key subpopulations.
Along those lines, across Santa Clara County there was a 27.3 percent drop in the number of homeless veterans in the community. That number, the county said, reflects a years-long community campaign to end veteran homelessness that launched in 2015 and is now integrated into the countywide response to homelessness.
However, there was a 36.5 percent increase in the number of homeless families counted countywide, more than 80 percent of whom were sheltered.
In 2021, the county helped co-launch the Heading Home campaign to end homelessness for families, and these numbers reflect early results from other similar campaigns, where people who normally go uncounted become easier to count. as more community members begin to use new resources.
In the six years since voters approved the Measure A Affordable Housing Bond in 2016, 4,481 new apartments and 689 renovated units have been completed or are in process.
Since 2020, the Homeless Prevention System has helped more than 24,000 people remain stable while receiving services, and only 3 percent of these households became homeless after receiving assistance.
While there has been a 27 percent drop in the number of people experiencing homelessness for the first time in any given year, the rates of new people becoming homeless each month continue to outpace the number of those obtaining housing .
Point-in-Time Count is a census of protected and unprotected people experiencing homelessness in a single night. Provides data used for federal funding allocations and national homelessness estimates.
While it is a useful tool, it is an imprecise method and is best used as a supplement to the many other ways we measure homelessness in our community.
The 2023 count causes Santa Clara County to retake the census every two years — in odd years — after the pandemic-related delay in 2021 that led to a subsequent count in 2022.
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