San Jose health fair provides resources to homeless residents

For more than a decade, one California state senator has hosted an annual health and resource fair for homeless people, and every year he wishes he could do more.

State Sen. Dave Cortese brought more than 50 organizations together at San Jose City Hall to offer a variety of services to dozens of homeless people Friday at the 14th annual Unhoused Health Fair. These services included food, health screenings, flu shots, housing resources, bike repairs, clothes, ID application processing and more.

“I just wish we could do it every day,” Cortese told San José Spotlight. “As heartwarming as it is, we’re sending everyone back out in the cold today, and they’ll sleep outside tonight. We don’t have a one stop (shop) location and I think we should.”

Hosting these fairs allow homeless people to access resources they might not be able find. It brings a sense of community to those who are struggling, Olivia Cane from the Lived Experience Advisory Board of Silicon Valley said.

“We all know it’s expensive living here in the Bay, and it’s not always a black or white situation on how one becomes homeless,” Cane said.

At the health fair, homeless people walked around various booths picking up flyers and naloxone, getting flu shots, selecting jackets and talking to service providers. Jake Rhodes from the Santa Clara County Public Defender’s office was there to help individuals expunge their records. Other participating service providers included Abode Services, HomeFirst, Destination: Home, Amigos de Guadalupe, Gardner Health Services, Santa Clara Valley Medical Center and Goodwill of Silicon Valley, which offers housing to homeless veterans.

Nicholas Hunt, 37, brought his dog and came to learn more about what the fair had to offer.

“This gives me a lot of resources and information. Since I don’t go out a lot. I don’t know what’s going on,” Hunt told San José Spotlight.

Hunt became homeless nearly five years ago during the pandemic. He was evicted after he could no longer pay rent. He couldn’t keep his job as a drive-in movie theater manager, because he had no place to shower or any clean clothes.

“COVID spiraled me down,” he said. He is staying at an encampment on Great Oaks Parkway.

Chris Wess sat in a chair with a smile on his face as barber Carlos Harris buzzed his hair.

“(I feel like) a brand new dollar bill,” Wess told San José Spotlight.

Harris has been cutting hair for 40 years.

“Everyone deserves to look good no matter who you are,” Harris told San José Spotlight. “We live in a society today where people are looked down upon because they don’t have housing. I just want to be one of those people who see them as human beings.”

Contact Joyce Chu at [email protected] or @joyce_speaks on X.