Santa Clara County has made strides to house homeless veterans, but the work isn’t over.
The county reached a milestone of “functional zero” among homeless veterans in 2020, where the number of veterans getting housed exceeded the number falling into homelessness. That was due to the concerted effort to end veteran homelessness through a campaign launched in 2015 called “All the Way Home.” Since then, nearly 3,000 veterans have been housed in the region, according to county data — and officials have been able to maintain functional zero.
From October 2023 to this September, 256 veterans have been housed. In addition, 141 homeless veterans sought housing assistance for the first time.
“It’s just a really awesome example of what can be done when you really focus on people who have specific needs and common experience,” Chad Bojorquez, chief program officer for nonprofit Destination: Home, told San José Spotlight. “That’s what we’re trying to do across the board — just have systems where you have more people being housed than are becoming homeless.”
Destination: Home spearheaded the campaign, bringing together service providers including HomeFirst, Santa Clara County Office of Supportive Housing and the county Housing Authority, the Veterans Administration and other stakeholders to end veteran homelessness.
The coalition successfully petitioned the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for 400 more Section-8 housing vouchers for veterans, allowing more veterans to be placed in permanent homes. The campaign provided landlords with financial incentives to accept the vouchers. From 2015 to 2021, more than 900 landlords signed up to take the housing vouchers.
Following the launch of the program in 2015, Destination: Home handed the campaign over to the county in 2020, after obtaining one year of functional zero for veteran homelessness. The county has continued to maintain the partnerships and the systems established to house veterans.
Challenges remain in getting veterans housed, including Silicon Valley’s high cost of living coupled with internal pressures veterans face like post-traumatic stress disorder, reintegrating into society and drug use, veteran Carl Koprek said.
“That causes them to kind of isolate themselves,” Koprek told San José Spotlight.
Koprek lives at 10 Kirk Ave., a complex home to dozens of veterans that have lived with black mildew, fire hazards and unsafe electrical systems for years. The county purchased it last year and promised to turn around. Homeless Veterans Emergency Housing Facility provided case management and meals to veterans at the site, but they lived in squalor. Earlier this year the Veterans Administration, which had been funding a majority of programs, said it wouldn’t renew its contract with the nonprofit. The county enlisted Abode Services to take over day-to-day operations through December.
It’s easier for veterans to survive out in the streets, Koprek said, because they’ve been trained to live under harsh conditions. With homes growing increasingly more expensive in Silicon Valley and rules that accompany living in a housing program, some veterans may opt to live outside because they don’t see better options, he said.
“So it’s hard to get them in,” Koprek added.
That’s why street outreach is important, HomeFirst Chief Operating Officer Kelly Vazquez said — it meets veterans where they’re at. HomeFirst workers go to homeless encampments and offer resources to people living there, as well as financial assistance, housing navigation, benefit enrollment and employment assistance for veterans.
“Every single veteran in our nation at one point signed a contract giving up their life for our community. And these same veterans may be sleeping outside,” Vazquez told San José Spotlight. “Every day, we are recommitting to this goal of achieving functional zero, and not only functional zero, but an end to veteran homelessness in Santa Clara County. And that is an effort that takes our entire community’s involvement.”
Contact Joyce Chu at [email protected] or @joyce_speaks on X, formerly known as Twitter.
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