As Santa Clara County starts to plan what the next five years of tackling homelessness will look like, officials have reviewed the past five years — what worked and what continues to be a challenge.
The county connected 17,485 homeless individuals to permanent housing as of 2024, and is on track and may even exceed the goal of housing 20,000 individuals by the end of 2025. But on the flipside, preventing more people from falling into homelessness remains a struggle, according to the 2020-2025 Community Plan to End Homelessness.
“We work really closely to have our system be tied together,” Santa Clara County Deputy Executive Consuelo Hernandez told San José Spotlight. “That is really what has been successful, is the political will to say yes to shelter, yes to housing (and) recognizing prevention is a critical component of stopping the inflow.”…