Ray Bramson

Chief Operating Officer, Destination: Home

 

Housing and Homelessness Columnist

Column contributed second Monday of every month

Ray works systematically to meet Destination: Home’s goals by addressing key staffing, process, and infrastructure issues, while also overseeing the organization’s housing loan portfolio, grantmaking, and development functions.

Having focused on homelessness and affordable housing issues for the majority of his career, Ray previously worked for the city of San Jose, leading the city’s Homelessness Interventions and Solutions Division for over five years.

Prior to joining the city, he was a philanthropy manager at Silicon Valley Community Foundation, and before that Ray worked with HomeFirst–a Santa Clara County safety net organization–as director of development.

An alumnus of UC Santa Barbara, Ray spent the year following his graduation with the AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps serving impoverished communities throughout the southeastern United States. He is a senior fellow with American Leadership Forum Silicon Valley and a board member for Housing Matters. Ray is also currently pursuing his Masters in Liberal Arts from Stanford University.

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Columns
Tiny homes in San Jose
April 13, 2026April 13, 2026by

Bramson: 20,000 people housed — and still not enough

There’s a number that should fundamentally change how we talk about homelessness in Santa Clara County: 20,000. That’s how many people are no longer homeless — now housed — as a result of the community’s coordinated effort under the Community Plan to End Homelessness since 2020. It’s a remarkable milestone, and yet if you listen...

Columns
Cherry Avenue homeless encampment
March 9, 2026March 9, 2026by

Bramson: Stopping the fall before it begins

Every day, thousands of Americans lose their homes. But the moment we notice the crisis is almost never the moment it begins. We see the tent on the sidewalk. The car parked overnight on a quiet street. The person waiting outside a shelter door. By then, the fall has already happened. What we rarely see...

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