County of Santa Clara and City of San José Housing Officials to Provide Updates on Homeless Population

Housing officials from the County of Santa Clara and City of San José will be available today to share updates on the 2023 Point-in-Time Homeless Census.
 
WHO: 
Consuelo Hernandez, Director, County of Santa Clara Office of Supportive Housing
Kathryn Kaminski, Deputy Director, County of Santa Clara Office of Supportive Housing
Kelly Hemphill, Division Manager of Homeless Solutions, City of San José Housing Department
 
***Spanish interviews available
 
WHEN:
Today, May 30, 2:30 p.m.
 
WHERE: 
County Government Center – McEntee Plaza
70 W. Hedding St., San José, CA 95110
 
WHAT: The number of unhoused community members counted across Santa Clara County dropped slightly compared to last year, according to preliminary results of the 2023 Point-in-Time (PIT) homeless census. The data, released today by the County of Santa Clara and the City of San José, show the overall number of homeless individuals counted this year decreased by 1.2% in Santa Clara County and dropped by 4.7% in the city limits of San José.
 
The latest results reflect both the progress made and enormous challenges ahead. Over the past several years, stakeholders throughout the community have come together to implement a comprehensive response to homelessness – which has included building thousands of new units of affordable housing, scaling homelessness prevention assistance, expanding outreach and basic needs services, and piloting new temporary housing and shelter models. Collectively, these regional efforts are stemming the tide of homelessness. However, solving this severe crisis will require a continued and focused investment from all partners across the community. 
 
“The PIT count is just a snapshot of one night so it is 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’s Office of Supportive Housing. “Looking at this year’s count and previous years’ numbers, this signals to us that the crisis has not gotten worse despite the national and local economic fallout. However, the needs in the community continue to grow and we must continue to focus our efforts in expanding the overall capacity of the supportive housing system.”
 
Read more in the full press release.

Media contacts: María Leticia Gómez / Quan Vu , County of Santa Clara Office of Communications and Public Affairs, (408) 299-5119, [email protected]; Jeff Scott, San José Housing Department, (408) 975-2647, [email protected]

Posted: May 30, 2023