Despite Latinos making up a large portion of the Santa Clara County’s homeless population, the group tends to be invisible. The Latino homeless population has exploded over the years. In 2007, Latinos made up 28% of Santa Clara County’s homeless residents, peaking at 47% in 2022 — they’re now 40% of the homeless population, according...
San Jose homeless population is still rising
San Jose’s homeless population has ticked up despite ongoing investments to build temporary housing. Silicon Valley’s largest city has 6,503 homeless residents, up 237 people from a 2023 point-in-time count, according to data shared by San Jose. About 60% is unsheltered, or 3,959 people, and 2,544 are sheltered. The city’s homeless population peaked in 2022...
Santa Clara readies two-year plan to tackle homelessness
Santa Clara is moving forward with plans to reduce homelessness, which include adding more shelter beds and increasing outreach. The City Council on Tuesday reviewed a draft, two-year work plan detailing tactics for the city to decrease homelessness and support unsheltered residents. The plan outlines 34 projects and goals, such as piloting a safe parking...
Santa Clara County fights to stop homelessness
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...
San Jose homeless advocates create support network
As San Jose turns up the heat on abolishing homeless encampments, advocates have organized to prevent unhoused residents from losing what little they have. The Rapid Engagement Support Team (REST) works to assist homeless residents caught up in sweeps. REST aids with recovering a person’s property after a sweep, providing information on how to get...
Santa Clara County homelessness hits new high
Homelessness has increased in one of the most expensive regions in the nation, a tell-tale sign of what could come. Santa Clara County has 10,711 homeless residents, up 8.2% from two years ago, according to preliminary results from this year’s point in time count conducted in January 2025. This has happened despite significant investments in temporary...
State could strip Silicon Valley’s homeless funding
The progress San Jose and Santa Clara County have made to reduce homelessness could be halted as the state cuts crucial funding for housing and homeless services. The California Legislature on June 13 passed a $325 billion preliminary budget for the 2025-26 fiscal year, and the state’s main source of homelessness funding — the Homelessness...
San Jose bans homeless people renting RVs
A new San Jose policy intended to target individuals who rent RVs to homeless residents is being extended to penalize people sleeping in their vehicles. The San Jose City Council voted 9-1 on Tuesday to approve the “vanlording” policy, as it was written last week, to ban the advertising and renting out of RVs to...
San Jose to clear Columbus Park — again
San Jose is moving forward with plans to clear large camps of homeless people and prevent them from returning. Sweeps are planned from June 16 to June 30 to clear encampments where dozens of people are living in tents along the Guadalupe River from West Taylor Street to Interstate 880. The city plans to sweep...
West Valley residents angry over hotel turning to homeless housing
More than 100 people packed the Camden Community Center Wednesday to speak against a West Valley hotel converting to temporary homes for homeless women and children. They stood against the walls when seats ran out, booed, shouted over each other and yelled at San Jose officials, “You’re our elected officials! You need to listen to...