On any given night in San José, nearly 5,000 people sleep on the streets. Our unhoused and housed residents alike cannot wait decades for developments to spring from the ground; relief is needed immediately. It’s time we treated homelessness as the humanitarian crisis it is, and scale up basic, cost-effective and safe places for homeless residents to live as an alternative to our streets and creeks.
It will take every tool we have available, and ones we are still working to establish, to end our homelessness crisis. We will continue to embrace solutions we know work, like delivering on our goal of building 1000 new EIH units and identifying the next 1000, securing privately owned sites for more housing, and exploring lower barrier shelter opportunities.
One tool we need to work on is our mental health and substance abuse treatment systems. 42% of unhoused people in San José self-reported suffering from a psychiatric condition and 25% reported drug addiction as a main reason for their homelessness. We have an immense opportunity to move the needle on homelessness if we invest in, and champion the right reforms.
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