Chapters

First and Second Year Priorities and Action Steps Chart
Participants to the Planning Process

Appendix A: Addenda to Action Steps and Steps Not Included in Plan
Appendix B: Homeless Survey Instrument
Appendix C: Service Providers Survey Instrument

Endnotes

The Collaborative also extends gratitude to the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, the supervisors, staff members, and the Mayors of the Cities of the County for supporting the work of the Collaborative in creating this document and in committing to achieve its goals.

Special recognition is due to the members of the Collaborative's Planning Committee, for their extraordinary contributions of time and expertise and to Margaret Gregg, CSJ, the County Homeless Services, for staffing the Planning Committee's work:

Ray Allan
Betsy Arroyo
Jerome Burstein
Candi Capogrossi
Mary Ellen Chell
Trish Crowder
Kathy Espinoza-Howard
Vivian Frelix-Hart
Margaret Gregg
Leah Grunlund
Corky Gutierrez
Kristie Kesel
Kathy Neidlinger
Denise Scovel
Anne Ehresman

Adobe Systems Incorporated is applauded for its gracious and generous hospitality in hosting the Collaborative's Continuum of Care Plan Kick-off on June 7, 2001.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Santa Clara Countywide Five Year Homelessness Continuum of Care Plan seeks to create a comprehensive and coordinated system of affordable housing and support services for the prevention, reduction and eventual end of homelessness. It identifies priorities for action in the areas of outreach, information technology, housing, employment, support services, and the overall administration and coordination of the County's Continuum of Care system. For each priority identified in the plan, specific action steps are laid out for implementation.

In this way, the Plan provides a common blueprint to guide the County, the Cities, services providers, the faith community, the business sector, philanthropy, and the broader community in realizing the vision of a community in which everyone's housing and life needs are met. This Homelessness Plan is not only a statement of action steps for achieving this goal, but is a commitment to achieving it.

Background & Planning Process

Despite major efforts on the part of many, homelessness remains a significant problem throughout Santa Clara County. Thousands upon thousands of people experience an episode of homelessness here each year, including families with kids, adults employed at lower wage jobs, people with disabilities, such as severe mental illness, addiction disorders, HIV/AIDS, and/or developmental disabilities, runaway or "throwaway" children, domestic violence survivors, and veterans. Homelessness currently exists in all parts of Santa Clara County, whether urban, suburban, or rural, but may be especially prevalent where we have existing pockets of persistent poverty.

For many years, the County, Cities, nonprofits, faith community, and concerned citizens have been working closely together to meet the need for shelter, housing, financial assistance, and supportive services. It is this "continuum of care" system of housing and services that we seek to further develop through the creation of this five-year Homelessness Continuum of Care Plan.

The Plan was developed by the Santa Clara Collaborative on Housing and Homeless Issues through its Steering and Planning Committees, with support from the County Homeless Services Coordinator and consulting assistance from HomeBase, a nonprofit technical service provider on homelessness.

Work on the plan commenced in August, 2000. To elicit the information upon which to determine and draft priorities and action steps, community meetings were held in every county district. These meetings furnished the opportunity for homeless persons, homeless service and housing providers, government employees, representatives of the business and faith communities, advocates and the general public to comment on all homelessness-related issues. Comments from the community meetings were synthesized into the Plan.

In addition, the planning process included generating new, and considering existing information concerning the demographic profile and needs of the those who are homeless in the County and of system capacity for responding to the same, as well as consideration of resources to support system capacity, and regional economic trends.

With this information, the Planning Committee, over the course of many meetings, then developed, and prioritized the final recommendations contained in this Plan, which the Steering Committee reviewed, edited and approved.

The entire community was given the opportunity to review and comment on the Plan at the Collaborative's Continuum of Care Plan Kick-off on June 7, 2001.

After approval/acceptance by the County's jurisdictions, committees of the Collaborative will oversee implementation of specific portions of the Plan.

Plan Themes

The prevention of and end to homelessness will be achieved only where there is sufficient affordable housing opportunity.

Any successful effort to address homelessness must involve the support and collaboration of the full community, including the County, the Cities, service providers, faith groups, the business sector, citizens and people who are homeless or formerly homeless.

Coordination with mainstream service systems must be improved in order to better meet the needs of people who are homeless or at-risk and to provide greater long-term financial stability for the Continuum of Care system. Adequate discharge planning that includes next-step housing will both alleviate homelessness and render more effective the services that mainstream systems provide.

While unique strategies are targeted to meet the needs of specific localities, coordinating efforts regionally, within the County and within the entire Bay Area, is necessary in order to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the County's efforts.

Prevention of homelessness must be a cornerstone of the Continuum of Care system.

The population of people who are homeless or at-risk are diverse, and greater cultural competency should be engendered in the provision of services within the Continuum. Services provided should be expanded to reach all homeless people and people at risk of homelessness, and to meet their special and unique needs.

Homelessness in Santa Clara County

The Plan text includes:

Overview of data used in the planning process showing types and level of need or service gaps

Countrywide Strategy

In order to be effective, the Continuum of Care must be integrated and coordinated so that when homeless people make contact with one agency in the system, they can be linked across agencies with the full range of housing and services they need to stabilize their lives and maximize their self-sufficiency. Therefore, an information and referral system which provides accurate and up-to-date information about service and housing availability and which effectively links people with what they need is an absolutely essential aspect of a fully-functioning Continuum of Care. This information should be accessible to outreach workers, case managers, homeless people, and the general public.

In addition to an accessible information and referral system, outreach is an important mechanism for connecting people with the services they need. For many people, an outreach worker provides the first point of contact with the service system; this may be through shelter day centers, multi-service or day drop-in centers, crisis hotlines, safe havens for the homeless mentally ill, informational street hand-outs, or mobile outreach workers who work on the streets. Outreach is particularly important for people who are reluctant to make contact with the service system on their own.

While for some people, one contact with the system may be enough to link them with needed services; for many others, street homeless, people with mental health disabilities and others who have had negative experiences with the service system, repeated contacts over time are necessary to build trust. This process of building trust and assessing needs is called engagement. Engagement occurs in various stages beginning with first contact where the outreach worker seeks to become a familiar face and begins to establish credibility; proceeding to initial engagement tactics where the worker attempts to engage the potential clients in conversation and uses small incentives to facilitate interaction, such as provision of needed items (toothbrushes or socks); and continuing to more ongoing engagement tactics where the worker begins to "hang out" with clients and helps them to meet needs that can be easily addressed, such as transportation, clothing, or basic medical care. Ultimately, if successful, the outreach worker will be able to assist clients in identifying their longer-term needs and accessing the services which can help them to move out of homelessness.

Currently, Santa Clara County has two computerized databases that provide information about homeless services, including housing, support services and employment opportunities, and a Shelter Hotline that provides information about shelter bed availability on a daily basis. The databases are accessible to anyone with a computer, outreach workers, case managers, homeless people and the general public. A voice mail system provides telephone capability directly to the homeless or near homeless, enabling them to attain housing and job information. While there are a variety of ongoing collaborative efforts taking place among agencies in the County, these collaborations have not as yet lead to full countywide service coordination nor data collection.

Santa Clara County has too few outreach and assessment workers. Currently, outreach occurs through shelter day centers, a safe haven for the homeless mentally ill and through mobile outreach workers who work on the streets. Additional outreach services are needed targeting under-served sub-populations who are unable to or resistant to seeking services on their own.

Santa Clara County’s Five Year Plan seeks to improve the existing information and referral system by updating and expanding the information available in the on-line databases and making them more accessible to homeless people and the general public. This will be done through greater publicity about the existence of the information system, by making computer terminals available at more locations, including food programs, shelters, multi-service centers and public libraries, and by providing non-computer access to the information through pre-recorded telephone message tapes. Other sources of information such as the Shelter Hotline and Community Voicemail program will be maintained and promoted as well. The Plan seeks to improve coordination within the Continuum of Care through the development of an on-line standardized reservation and assessment system to facilitate service provision as well as to allow for the collection of unduplicated data across agencies. The Plan also recognizes the need for technical assistance to agencies who are not yet computerized to assist them in linking up with the County’s information system, and the need to take advantage of technology as it evolves over the next five years to best serve those who are homeless [see Maintain Vitality of the Plan . . . Chapter, Collection of Data, Plan Evaluation and Communication Subchapter, page 90, Action Step A5].

Improving and expanding the County’s outreach services is another area touched on in the Five-Year Plan. This includes identifying additional sources of funding to expand outreach services to reach more people; expanding the hours of outreach services to include evenings and weekends; using more peer outreach; targeting services to under-served populations, including youth, non-English speakers, and the chronic street homeless; and expanding the outreach efforts of mainstream service agencies to target homeless people. This Plan also calls for more coordination with mainstream health and mental health services so as to provide outreach workers with 24 hour/day access to on-call medical and psychiatric consultation. Finally, it seeks to improve the quality of outreach services by creating an Outreach Coalition to facilitate sharing of resources and information and through more education and training of outreach workers.

Priorities

Countywide Strategy

The severe deficit of affordable housing is the major reason that annually there are 20,000 episodes of homelessness in Santa Clara County. This problem has its roots in the County’s huge housing/jobs imbalance where for every four jobs created in San Jose, only 1 new housing unit is built. The Association of Bay Area Governments 1995-2020 Forecast Period shows a countywide deficit between housing unit supply and projected household growth of 35,180 units.

This situation is exacerbated by the gap in income between those who are most well off in the County and those who are just scraping by. Even as some make just over minimum wage, others in the County are extremely prosperous, giving Santa Clara County a median monthly family income of $7,636, nearly $3,000 more than the median for California. This combination of prosperity limited to select sectors of the population coupled with the continually growing imbalance between housing supply and demand has created a housing market in which many are simply not able to compete. The fair market monthly rents for the year 2001 in the County are $1,052 for a studio, $1,199 for a one bedroom unit, $1,481 for a two bedroom unit, and $2,030 for a three bedroom unit. The median house price in San Jose is $485,000 and for a condominium $295,000.

The consequence of these inflated housing prices is that extremely low and low-income people are pushed onto the margins of society, already homeless or else living with the constant threat of homelessness. For example, a person in Santa Clara County needs to earn $20.35 an hour to rent a one bedroom apartment at fair market rent; yet the incomes of the bottom third of Silicon Valley workers is only $10.54, 11% less than in 1989. With a small monthly income consumed by huge housing costs, there is no margin for responding to unexpected crises, such as job loss, eviction, medical emergency, or a drug or alcohol relapse. Once housing is lost, reacquiring it is extremely difficult given the lack of housing units in the County, the inflated rents of those that are available, the difficulty of saving up for the large move-in expenses involved (including rental and utility deposits), and the reluctance of landlords to rent to people with poor credit histories, prior evictions, criminal histories and low-incomes.

Santa Clara County and its Cities recognize that increasing its housing stock is a priority, particularly increasing housing affordable to those who are homeless or have extremely low incomes. To reach this goal requires the collaborative efforts of the entire community, including government, service providers, non-profit and for-profit housing developers, industry, the faith community, and citizens. This Five Year Plan focuses on a variety of strategies aimed at preventing people from losing their housing, assisting them in reentering and retaining housing, and maintaining and expanding a full continuum of housing options, including emergency shelter, transitional housing, supportive housing and permanent affordable housing. It also focuses on strategies to facilitate community support for the siting of these new units.

This chapter and its recommended action steps are divided into the following six sections:

Prevention

Prevention services are designed to provide assistance to people in danger of losing their housing in order to prevent their becoming homeless. Typically, the types of assistance that fall under the prevention rubric include emergency funds to pay for existing housing, eviction prevention and relocation assistance, mobile integrated service teams supporting populations with ongoing service needs, and coordinated discharge planning from institutions, such as foster care, residential treatment programs, the prison system, hospitals and mental health facilities. These services are provided both through homeless service programs as well as through mainstream agencies.

Population groups who are considered to be at-risk of homelessness and who could therefore benefit from prevention services include the following:

Prevention services are an important and effective strategy for reducing homelessness. Not only do they spare people the pain, isolation, stigma and other hardships of homelessness, but they are also much less expensive than providing assistance after homelessness has occurred. Based on available 1990 census data, there are an estimated 20,000 to 30,000 households in Santa Clara County which are at-risk of becoming homeless. This Five Year Plan seeks to: support and expand existing prevention services that provide emergency assistance; increase the services available to prevent evictions; facilitate improved discharge planning for those leaving the foster care, mental health, public health and correctional systems and, expand supportive housing services to new housing sites where there are people with chronic disabilities.

Priorities

A. Sustain and enhance existing homeless and mainstream prevention services which provide emergency assistance to individuals and families at-risk of homelessness.

ACTION STEPS

ACTION STEPS

2. Improve coordination between the foster care, mental/public health and prison

systems and the Continuum of Care network regarding discharge planning. Œ

D. Expand supportive housing services to new housing sites where there are people with chronic disabilities such as mental illness, alcohol or drug dependence, physical disabilities, and HIV/AIDS.

ACTION STEPS

Transitional Housing

Transitional housing, with its combination of stable housing and intensive, targeted support services, is crucial to assisting many populations, including individuals and families with problems of chronic substance abuse, mental illness or developmental disabilities in overcoming the issues that caused their homelessness or which prevent their return to permanent housing and maximum self-sufficiency. Transitional housing includes both single site as well as scattered site programs. Its range of services, including case management, employment training, health care, substance abuse treatment, mental health services, childcare and life skills training, are provided on-site or through referrals to other providers.

There are only about 1,265 transitional housing beds in the entire county and the need far exceeds the present capacity of the system. Not only are there not enough programs, but there are insufficient services directed to those with problems of chronic substance abuse, mental illness and developmental disabilities. Accordingly, the five year plan seeks to sustain existing transitional housing programs while also expanding the system to meet unmet needs, particularly those of currently underserved populations. In addition, the plan looks to developing transitional housing for the County’s migrant worker population.

Priorities

A. Sustain existing transitional housing programs and expand system capacity to meet unmet need.

ACTION STEPS

Countywide Strategy

Effectively reducing homelessness in Santa Clara County requires strategies that address its root causes: the unprecedented rise in the County’s housing costs and a local wage scale that has not kept pace. While , for many, Silicon Valley is the image of boom times and new wealth, the reality, for those whose incomes fall short of the inflated rental prices, is one of actual or threatened homelessness. A quick illustration of this reality can be seen by looking at rental prices in South Santa Clara County; there, a family must earn $25-35/hour in order to afford a two-bedroom apartment. Given job skills and labor market conditions, this wage rate is out of reach for many people.

In order to reduce the incidence of homelessness and help people achieve their dreams of self-sufficiency, Santa Clara County’s Five Year Plan for preventing and reducing homelessness seeks to address the need for employment at living wages. To this end, it has developed a three pronged strategy to assist people in finding and maintaining jobs:

In implementing this strategy, the County seeks to involve both mainstream and homeless employment programs and to facilitate their working together to provide services in a comprehensive and non-duplicative manner. It also hopes to work closely with the business community in Silicon Valley in developing training curricula and creating well-paid job opportunities, thus taking advantage of its position as home to the largest high technology industry in the world.

Lifting the Barriers to Work

In order to find living wage jobs, people must have adequate training and appropriate workplace skills. Many also need assistance in developing resumes and locating employment. For those who are homeless or have other special needs, necessary employment assistance may include transitional housing, drug or alcohol treatment, transportation assistance and/or money for work clothes and materials. For all clients, case mangers are vital, helping to assess client needs, providing referrals and assistance in accessing services, and tracking their progress within the system.

In addition to helping people move out of homelessness, these sort of training and job search assistance services are also vital to preventing homelessness. With the restrictions and time limits imposed by Welfare Reform, these services are essential to helping people to move from joblessness into the work force and from receiving cash benefits to financial self-sufficiency, realizing that for many homeless persons, looking for employment and housing is a full-time occupation.

This Five Year Plan seeks to strengthen and expand the County’s employment services by increasing the availability of pre-employment services, focusing training efforts on preparing homeless people to enter higher paying jobs, such as those in high technology fields, and developing a three-tiered job placement model, encompassing in -house employment, non-profit enterprises, and the competitive job market. In addition, the Plan seeks to identify and alleviate the barriers to employment faced by homeless people with special needs.

priorities

2. Increase enrollment in current job training programs. Identify the barriers to

participation in job training programs and provide appropriate assistance and

incentives such as meals, transportation, training materials, etc.

3. Ensure referral information is easily accessible. Countywide informational kiosks

and self-sufficiency center sites will have accurate referral information about

homeless employment services, including resume services, job listings, vocational

programs, and training programs for life support skills and basic education. Œ

C. Identify and alleviate the major barriers to employment for homeless people with special needs.

In order to move out of homelessness, people need access to basic life necessities, such as food and shelter, and to supportive services, including transportation, education, child care, case management, life skills, health care, alcohol and drug treatment, and mental health services. Case management is the core service that links together all the others, ensuring that clients receive an integrated and comprehensive package of services, designed according to their specific needs. Case managers work with clients to identify their needs, assist them in accessing services, teach them how to advocate for themselves within the service system, and follow-up to ensure that they are ,in fact, making progress towards regaining their self-sufficiency.

Providing the full range of services needed both to help people regain housing and stability in their lives as well as to prevent homelessness from occurring in the first place requires a comprehensive Continuum of Care, including both mainstream and homeless services. Currently, there are a variety of mainstream agencies that provide these support services, however, many times they have been unable to adjust their services to meet the special needs of homeless people. Thus, a key focus of Santa Clara County’s five-year plan is to assist and enable mainstream agencies to more effectively meet the needs of homeless people, thus expanding the quantity and quality of services available to them.

In addition, this Five Year Plan focuses on ensuring that the services provided are comprehensive, meeting the client’s full range of need; integrated, provided in an organized manner that facilitates access to the services; and flexible, adjusted to provide the additional support, resources and longer and non-traditional hour access that homeless people need. Already Santa Clara County has sought to achieve this goal by clustering services around multi-service centers which are located in the key population centers. Integrated services at one location or in different locations connected by effective transportation provide easy access for clients with limited mobility. Some multi-service centers specialize in services for a specific population, and many act as service hubs providing clients with referrals to other providers. Over the next five years, the County seeks to build on this base with the goal of ensuring that homeless people throughout the County are able to access the service network in their respective communities in a manner that is attentive to the specific needs and barriers they face and to the diversity of cultures found in the County.

The support services addressed in this Five Year Plan include the following:

Food and Dietary Needs

Since food is a primary basic need, food programs are often the first place people turn for assistance when they become homeless or find themselves facing severe economic difficulties. Access to nutritional meals is critical to maintaining ones health and having the determination and focus necessary to pull oneself out of homelessness or prevent it in the first place. As such, this Five Year Plan seeks to increase the utilization of governmental food programs such as WIC, food stamps, and school breakfast and lunch programs, and to expand the community food services available to people who are homeless or at-risk.

PRIORITIES

ACTION STEPS

B. Expand the community food resources available to people who are homeless and at-risk.

ACTION STEPS

Transportation: Bus Passes, Paratransit, and Shuttles

The neighboring cities that line the North Valley are not made for walking; the sidewalks are narrow and forgotten next to the five lane roads, and anywhere you need to be is never nearby. Without a car, or at least a bus pass, it is almost impossible to reach more than one service provider in a day, never mind traveling across the county for job interviews.

The County has responded to this situation by creating one of the best transportation programs in the country for people who are homeless. The cornerstone to the County’s effort is the Homeless Transit Pass Program. This program, administered by case managers at shelters and other homeless service programs, provides discount public transit tickets to homeless people, thus helping them to access services, employment, and housing opportunities while also increasing the number of public transit riders. In order to continue to improve the transportation services available to homeless people, the Five Year Plan seeks to expand the transit available between service programs and to encourage efforts to locate all new service programs near transit lines.

PRIORITIES

A. Expand transit services to enable homeless people to access social service agencies within their communities as well as obtain services in other part of the County. This expansion is especially needed in South County.

ACTION STEPS

B. Work with County social service agencies to expand and organize their services so that they are clustered at transportation points within the County.

ACTION STEP

Education and Language Skills

Homelessness can easily deprive children of a chance to have a full education. From the moment when a family first loses their housing, beginning a cycle of staying with friends and family and then entering into emergency shelters and transitional housing, they will often times have crossed half a dozen school districts before they finally re-enter stable, permanent housing. For the children, this means continual school changes, a situation that adds further stress to their lives and often results in gaps in their learning. Because of these difficulties, a third of school-age children leave school as long as their families remain homeless.

The Five Year Plan focuses on ensuring that all homeless children are enrolled in school and are able to maintain their enrollment during their homelessness, expanding efforts to provide the supports homeless children need to achieve success in school, and providing services to parents to help them meet their own educational needs, and thus more effectively support their children’s education and betterment.

PRIORITIES

A. Facilitate enrollment and attendance in school by homeless children.

ACTION STEPS

ACTION STEPS

The Santa Clara Collaborative on Housing and Homeless Issues is the lead entity for Santa Clara County╞s ongoing Continuum of Care planning process.  It also is responsible for overseeing the Five Year Plan╞s approval and implementation.  The work of the Collaborative is shared by its members with staffing support provided by the County Homeless Services Coordinator (located within the County Administrator's Office).  Its membership includes representatives from more than 210 organizations, including the County's 15 cities and towns, all local emergency/transitional housing providers, affordable housing developers, advocacy and community groups, and a comprehensive array of supportive service providers.

The Collaborative's Steering Committee, with staff support from the County Homeless Services Coordinator, has responsibility for obtaining the approval of the Five Year Plan, annually reviewing its accomplishments, and setting new objectives in response to changing circumstances. Implementation of this plan, carrying out the work outlined in the action steps, is the joint responsibility of all service and housing entities throughout the community.  This includes both homeless and mainstream service housing and service providers.  Various action steps in the Five Year Plan require action by "mainstream programs," non-homeless targeted programs meant to serve all people of our community who qualify for services, without regard to housing status. Examples of these mainstream providers include public and nonprofit agencies, such as child care providers, the Department of Social Services and of Mental Health, and educational programs/schools.

The Five Year Plan seeks to maintain strong County involvement in its implementation and as such, puts the County Homeless Services Coordinator in the lead of this effort. It recognizes the importance of the Collaborative on Housing and Homeless Issues and seeks to maintain and expand it, in particular, looking to it to play the lead in consolidating and coordinating countywide fundraising and data collection efforts. It also focuses on developing stronger partnerships between non-profit service providers and government service programs and between the County and the Cities, calls for more outreach to faith-based entities, and seeks to develop greater community understanding of homelessness and support for programs through a public education and outreach effort. Finally, an annual review of the plan is called for along with amendment, as appropriate, by the Collaborative.

This chapter and its recommended action steps are divided into three sections:

Administration, Coordination and Staffing

Through the Santa Clara Collaborative on Housing and Homeless Issues and the County Homeless Services, the County has the organization and people in place to seek approval of the plan, implement its action steps, and solicit the necessary funding. This five-year plan seeks to maintain strong County involvement in the effort to reduce and end homelessness by putting the County Homeless Services Coordinator in the lead on efforts to implement the Five Year Plan and monitor and ensure effective functioning of the Continuum of Care. It also seeks to sustain and expand the existing Collaborative. In addition, the plan focuses on facilitating greater collaboration between non-profit service providers and government service programs in serving homeless people, involving faith-based entities in the delivery of housing and services for homeless people, and building stronger partnerships between the County and the Cities in efforts to address homelessness.

Priorities

Also stated is whether identical or similar action is already "Existing", or "Planned" in the community; who, by general description, will implement the action; possible sources of funding; and which of the Santa Clara Collaborative on Housing and Homeless Issues Committees will oversee implementation of the action step.

In the column suggesting "Who to Implement," community based organizations (CBOs) are meant to include faith based organizations (FBOs). The Planning Committee felt that the FBOs might bring particular skill or experience to the implementation of some action steps, and the FBO designation is made there.

FIRST AND SECOND YEAR ACTION STEPS

MAKE CONNECTIONS THROUGH OUTREACH, ENGAGEMENT AND COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY

Action Step No.	Action Step	Status	Who to Implement	Possible Funding	Who to Oversee
	MAINTAIN AND EXPAND THE COUNTY’S OUTREACH SERVICES.
A1	Sustain the County’s existing outreach capacity by ensuring that funding for these services, is at a minimum, maintained.	Existing	o County Mental Health o CBOs	Federal, State and Local Funding	Wellness and Life’s Necessities Committee
A2	Expand outreach and other services to the chronic street homeless population by obtaining funding for San Jose’s Hardest Hundred Project and replicate this project throughout the County.	Planned	o SAMSHA o CBOs	Federal, State and Local Funding	Wellness and Life’s Necessities Committee
A4	Expand outreach efforts to homeless, unaccompanied, and transitional youth. Hire outreach workers linked to mainstream youth service agencies to provide these services.	Existing	o CBOs	Federal, State and Local Funding	Wellness and Life’s Necessities Committee
A5	Expand the use of peer outreach workers (people who are homeless or formerly homeless) to conduct outreach services.		o CBOs	Federal, State and Local Funding	Wellness and Life’s Necessities Committee
A6	Expand the hours of outreach services so that they are continuously available, 7 days a week, 24-hour a day.		o CBOs	Federal, State and Local Funding	Wellness and Life’s Necessities Committee
A7	Coordinate with mainstream health and mental health services, public, non-profit, and private, to provide outreach workers with access to 24 hour/day on-call medical and psychiatric consultation.		o County Public Health o County Mental Health o Mainstream health system o CBOs	Federal, State and Local Funding	Wellness and Life’s Necessities Committee
A8	Support continued outreach efforts by mainstream service providers and work to expand this outreach to target people who are homeless.		o CBOs	Federal, State and Local Funding	Wellness and Life’s Necessities Committee

 

Action Step No.	Action Step	Status	Who to Implement	Possible Funding	Who to Oversee
	USE TECHNOLOGY TO ENHANCE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF OUTREACH, CASE MANAGEMENT AND INFORMATION AND REFERRAL SERVICES, THUS IMPROVING THE FUNCTIONING AND OVERALL CONTINUUM OF CARE SYSTEM
B1	Maintain and expand the existing on-line databases of homeless services, linked to the nationwide "211" information line, and increase access to this information by those in need and by the general public.	Some Existing; some Planned	o CBOs o Affordable housing providers	Government funds Private Funds	New Technology Committee
B3	Maintain and promote the existing Shelter Hotline, and encourage listed shelters to update their information with the Hotline daily.	Existing	o CBOs	Government Funds Private Funds	New Technology Committee
B4	Maintain the Community VoiceMail program.	Existing	o CBOs	Government Funds Private Funds	New Technology Committee
B6	Create a subsidized housing database to provide information on-line, and by telephone message tape, about the daily availability of transitional, Section 8, shared housing and other and permanent housing affordable to extremely low income persons. Require housing providers supported by government funds to self-report this information daily.	Planned	o CBOs o Housing Authority	Government Funds Private Funds	New Technology Committee
B7	Provide technical assistance to agencies who are not yet computerized to help them to obtain resources to purchase equipment and develop and install systems compatible with rest of the County.		o CBOs	Government Funds Private Funds	New Technology Committee

FIRST AND SECOND YEAR ACTION STEPS

BUILD HOUSING NOW! FOR A BALANCED COMMUNITY

Action Step No.	Action Step	Status	Who to Implement	Possible Funding	Who to Oversee
	PREVENTION
A	Sustain and enhance existing homeless and mainstream prevention services which provide emergency assistance to individuals and families at-risk of homelessness.
A1	Identify additional funding sources for existing emergency assistance prevention services, giving priority to rental, mortgage and utilities assistance services		o Local government o Affordable Housing Developers o CBOs o FBOs	See endnote 1.	Housing and Community Committee
A2	Expand emergency assistance services to include relocation assistance for those who need short-term assistance due to discontinued eligibility for public housing, domestic violence, or emancipation.	Existing	o Local government o Affordable Housing Developers o FBOs .	See endnote 1.	Housing and Community Committee
B	Prevent evictions of families and individuals that cause homelessness.
B1	Coordinate among all homeless housing providers at different stages of housing entry and exit to determine where the populations they serve have been, and are going, to diminish any overlap of services.		o Local government o Affordable Housing Developers o CBOs o FBOs .	See endnote 1.	Housing and Community Committee
B9	Provide subsidies for teams to clean-up poorly maintained housing units affordable to extremely low income persons to enhance the County’s supply of such units.		o Local government o Affordable Housing Developers o CBOs o FBOs .	See endnote 1.	Housing and Community Committee

 

Action Step No.	Action Step	Status	Who to Implement	Possible Funding	Who to Oversee
C	Initiate and improve discharge planning services by major mainstream systems such as the foster care, mental/public health and prisons systems, in order to ensure that newly discharged individuals have necessary housing and support services.
C1	Require that foster care programs, in-patient mental health hospitals, and correctional facilities provide discharge planning services to clients in order to ensure that they have access to housing and other needed support services upon discharge.		o State and County Public Health o State and County Mental Health o Hospitals o Jails, Prisons o Foster Care o Local government o CBOs o FBOs .	See endnote 1.	Housing and Community Committee
C2	Improve coordination between the foster care, mental health and prison systems and the Continuum of Care network regarding discharge planning. Train staff involved in the discharge planning process about the housing and services available for their clients, designate an official liaison from these institutions to the Continuum of Care, and formalize inter-agency agreements between the discharging institution and government or community-based agencies.		o State and County Public Health o State and County Mental Health o Hospitals o Jails, Prisons o Foster Care o Local government o CBOs o FBOs	See endnote 1.	Housing and Community Committee
C3	Allow community-based organizations to provide services to inmates who are soon to be discharged, while they are still in custody, in order to initiative community links that they can rely on once released and facilitate continuity of care.		o State and County Public Health o State and County Mental Health o Hospitals o Jails, Prisons o Foster Care o Local government o CBOs o FBOs	See endnote 1.	Housing and Community Committee

 

Action Step No.	Action Step	Status	Who to Implement	Possible Funding	Who to Oversee
	EMERGENCY SHELTER
A	Sustain and improve the County’s existing emergency shelter system.
A1	Sustain existing shelter with federal Emergency Shelter Grant Program (ESG) and state Emergency Housing Assistance Program (EHAP) funds, winter armory and other funding sources.	Existing	o Local government o Affordable Housing Developers o CBOs	ESG EHAP	Housing and Community Committee
A3	Document the need for emergency shelter by collecting and maintaining up-to-date information on number of beds in the system, shelter usage, level of need, and gaps according to target population.	Planned	o Local government o CBOs	See endnote 1.	Housing and Community and New Technology Committees
A4	Maintain information on shelter availability that is updated daily and can be accessed by the community electronically or by telephone.		o Local government o CBOs .	See endnote 1.	Housing and Community Committee
A5	Keep current community-developed minimum standards of care for all shelter providers to assure a baseline of service provision	Existing	o Local government o Affordable Housing Developers o CBOs	See endnote 1.	Housing and Community Committee
B	Expand the capacity of the emergency shelter system to fully meet the need.
B1	Explore the expansion of emergency shelter capacity using unused or underused short-term housing space, including outreach to the faith-based community to identify congregations that can operate emergency shelters in their facilities.	Planned	o Local government o Affordable Housing Developers o CBOs o FBOs	See endnote 1.	Housing and Community Committee
B3	Solicit financial support for emergency shelter system from the largest 100 companies in the County using data demonstrating usage of the emergency shelter system by employees of these companies.		o Local government o CBOs o Local businesses	See endnote 1.	Housing and Community and New Technology Committees
B4	Create emergency shelter programs targeted to address the special needs of sub-populations underserved by existing emergency shelter programs, including youth, single fathers with children, domestic violence victims, seniors, and people with disabilities.		o Local government o Affordable Housing Developers o CBOs.	See endnote 1.	Housing and Community Committee
B5	Establish specialized capacity at designated or specialized shelters for people exiting institutions, such as jails, foster care programs, treatment programs, hospitals and mental health programs, who might not otherwise have access to housing.		o Local government o Affordable Housing Developers o CBOs o Mainstream providers	See endnote 1.	Housing and Community Committee

 

Action Step No.	Action Step	Status	Who to Implement	Possible Funding	Who to Oversee
	TRANSITIONAL HOUSING
A	Sustain existing transitional housing programs and expand system capacity to meet unmet need.
A2	Engage in regional collaborative efforts to increase federal and state funding for transitional housing. Address existing impediments to receiving funding from these sources.	Existing	o Local government o Affordable Housing Developers o CBOs .	See endnote 1.	Housing and Community Committee
A3	Enhance transitional housing opportunities for underserved populations, including 18-29 year olds, and individuals and families with chronic substance abuse, mental illness, domestic violence or developmental disability issues. Support initiatives to require mainstream systems which serve the same subpopulations to contribute to the funding of these programs.	Planned	o Local government o Affordable Housing Developers o CBOs .	See endnote 1.	Housing and Community and Education, Legislation and Public Relations ("ELPR") Committees
A4	Improve coordination between providers of transitional housing and those of permanent, affordable housing in order to facilitate placement of people leaving transitional housing into permanent housing.	Existing	o Local government o CBOs .	See endnote 1.	Housing and Community Committee

 

Action Step No.	Action Step	Status	Who to Implement	Possible Funding	Who to Oversee
	PERMANENT AFFORDABLE HOUSING
A	Sustain the existing stock of permanent housing which is affordable to people with extremely low-incomes
A2	Advocate at the federal level to require one-for-one replacement of any public housing that is demolished.		o Local government o Affordable Housing Developers o CBOs	See endnote 1.	Housing and Community Committee
A4	Create a funding stream for improvements to extremely low-income rental units. Make deed restrictions to keep the units permanently affordable for a designated period of time (e.g. 25 years) a condition for receiving the improvement funds.		o Local government o Affordable Housing Developers o CBOs	See endnote 1.	Housing and Community Committee
A5	Support local initiatives to protect existing affordable rental housing from conversion to market-rate ownership housing	Existing	o Local government o Affordable Housing Developers o CBOs	See endnote 1.	Housing and Community and ELPR Committees
B	Fac Facilitate access to existing housing stock by homeless people and those who have extremely low incomes.
B1	Through outreach and education regarding the benefits, encourage private and nonprofit landlords to accept extremely low-income tenants, including those with Section 8 vouchers and those who fail routine selection criteria due to previous eviction, poor credit history, prior homelessness or criminal justice history.	Existing and Planned	o Local government o Affordable Housing Developers o CBOs o Landlords	See endnote 1.	Housing and Community Committee
B1¸	Facilitate agreements where community-based organizations master lease housing from landlords and rent it to homeless people with Section 8 vouchers. The community-based organization is responsible for managing the property, including collecting rent for the landlord.	Existing and Planned	o Local government o CBOs o Landlords .	See endnote 1.	Housing and Community Committee
B2	Develop a database of affordable housing in Santa Clara County		o Local government o Affordable Housing Developers o CBOs	See endnote 1.	Housing and Community and New Technology Committees
B3	Enhance housing assistance services to homeless and/or extremely low-income persons to help them obtain and maintain housing through legal and financial counseling, life skills workshops and list of landlords who accept Section 8 vouchers and rental and security deposit guarantees.	Planned	o Local government o Affordable Housing Developers o CBOs o Colleges o Bar associations/guilds	See endnote 1.	Housing and Community Committee
B4	Enforce existing fair housing law to ensure that people have access to affordable housing and are not subject to discriminatory housing practices	Existing	o Local government o Affordable Housing Developers o CBOs o Landlords o Bar associations/guilds	See endnote 1.	Housing and Community Committee
B6¸	Support initiative to increase the period during which Section 8 vouchers are valid.		o Local government o Affordable Housing Developers o CBOs o FBOs	See endnote 1.	Housing and Community and ELPR Committees
B6¸	Support initiatives to allow a community-based recalculation of the value of the Section 8 voucher.		o Local government o Affordable Housing Developers o CBOs	See endnote 1.	Housing and Community and ELPR Committees
B7	Utilize currently unused or underused housing for people who are homeless or have extremely low incomes. Outreach to people who have room in their homes to rent and expand shared housing programs.	Existing	o Local government o Affordable Housing Developers o CBOs	See endnote 1.	Housing and Community Committee
C	Expand the stock of extremely low-income permanent housing for individuals and families.
C1	Advocate for more funding for housing affordable to homeless people including support for the expansion of the federal low income housing credit, increased funding for Section 8 and Public Housing and for preferences in federally-funded affordable housing for homeless people.		o Local government o Affordable Housing Developers o CBOs .	See endnote 1.	Housing and Community and ELPR Committees
C2	Support maintenance of the Santa Clara County Housing Trust, and advocate for a significant percentage of its funds to be allocated to extremely low-income affordable housing.	Existing	o Local government o Steering Committee o Affordable Housing Developers o CBOs	See endnote 1.	Housing and Community Committee
C3	As an incentive to encourage local governments to develop affordable housing, support the allocation of more property tax revenues to local governments that keep pace with their housing demand		o	See endnote 1.	Housing and Community and ELPR Committees
C4	Require in all future building developments at least 20% set-asides for housing affordable to extremely low-income person		o Local government o Affordable Housing Developers o CBOs	See endnote 1.	Housing and Community Committee
C5	Enhance physical accessibility of affordable housing and market to those in need; educate those in need regarding their legal rights to accessible units	Existing	o Local government o Affordable Housing Developers o CBOs o Bar associations and guilds	See endnote 1.	Housing and Community Committee
C8	Provide assistance and incentives to developers to develop affordable housing, review procedures that expedite applications for extremely low-income housing projects and work toward the goal of reducing development costs and time delays.	Existing	o Local government o Affordable Housing Developers o CBOs .	See endnote 1.	Housing and Community Committee
C9	Review land use regulations in the County and its cities to facilitate development of more affordable housing.	Existing	o Local government o Affordable Housing Developers o CBOs	See endnote 1.	Housing and Community Committee
C10	Consider increasing the number of homes which can be built per acre	Existing	o Local government o Affordable Housing Developers o CBOs .	See endnote 1.	Housing and Community Committee

 

Action Step No.	Action Step	Status	Who to Implement	Possible Funding	Who to Oversee
	EMERGENCY SHELTER
A	Sustain and improve the County’s existing emergency shelter system.
A1	Sustain existing shelter with federal Emergency Shelter Grant Program (ESG) and state Emergency Housing Assistance Program (EHAP) funds, winter armory and other funding sources.	Existing	o Local government o Affordable Housing Developers o CBOs	ESG EHAP	Housing and Community Committee
A3	Document the need for emergency shelter by collecting and maintaining up-to-date information on number of beds in the system, shelter usage, level of need, and gaps according to target population.	Planned	o Local government o CBOs	See endnote 1.	Housing and Community and New Technology Committees
A4	Maintain information on shelter availability that is updated daily and can be accessed by the community electronically or by telephone.		o Local government o CBOs .	See endnote 1.	Housing and Community Committee
A5	Keep current community-developed minimum standards of care for all shelter providers to assure a baseline of service provision	Existing	o Local government o Affordable Housing Developers o CBOs	See endnote 1.	Housing and Community Committee
B	Expand the capacity of the emergency shelter system to fully meet the need.
B1	Explore the expansion of emergency shelter capacity using unused or underused short-term housing space, including outreach to the faith-based community to identify congregations that can operate emergency shelters in their facilities.	Planned	o Local government o Affordable Housing Developers o CBOs o FBOs	See endnote 1.	Housing and Community Committee
B3	Solicit financial support for emergency shelter system from the largest 100 companies in the County using data demonstrating usage of the emergency shelter system by employees of these companies.		o Local government o CBOs o Local businesses	See endnote 1.	Housing and Community and New Technology Committees
B4	Create emergency shelter programs targeted to address the special needs of sub-populations underserved by existing emergency shelter programs, including youth, single fathers with children, domestic violence victims, seniors, and people with disabilities.		o Local government o Affordable Housing Developers o CBOs.	See endnote 1.	Housing and Community Committee
B5	Establish specialized capacity at designated or specialized shelters for people exiting institutions, such as jails, foster care programs, treatment programs, hospitals and mental health programs, who might not otherwise have access to housing.		o Local government o Affordable Housing Developers o CBOs o Mainstream providers	See endnote 1.	Housing and Community Committee

 

Action Step No.	Action Step	Status	Who to Implement	Possible Funding	Who to Oversee
	TRANSITIONAL HOUSING
A	Sustain existing transitional housing programs and expand system capacity to meet unmet need.
A2	Engage in regional collaborative efforts to increase federal and state funding for transitional housing. Address existing impediments to receiving funding from these sources.	Existing	o Local government o Affordable Housing Developers o CBOs .	See endnote 1.	Housing and Community Committee
A3	Enhance transitional housing opportunities for underserved populations, including 18-29 year olds, and individuals and families with chronic substance abuse, mental illness, domestic violence or developmental disability issues. Support initiatives to require mainstream systems which serve the same subpopulations to contribute to the funding of these programs.	Planned	o Local government o Affordable Housing Developers o CBOs .	See endnote 1.	Housing and Community and Education, Legislation and Public Relations ("ELPR") Committees
A4	Improve coordination between providers of transitional housing and those of permanent, affordable housing in order to facilitate placement of people leaving transitional housing into permanent housing.	Existing	o Local government o CBOs .	See endnote 1.	Housing and Community Committee

 

Action Step No.	Action Step	Status	Who to Implement	Possible Funding	Who to Oversee
	PERMANENT AFFORDABLE HOUSING
A	Sustain the existing stock of permanent housing which is affordable to people with extremely low-incomes
A2	Advocate at the federal level to require one-for-one replacement of any public housing that is demolished.		o Local government o Affordable Housing Developers o CBOs	See endnote 1.	Housing and Community Committee
A4	Create a funding stream for improvements to extremely low-income rental units. Make deed restrictions to keep the units permanently affordable for a designated period of time (e.g. 25 years) a condition for receiving the improvement funds.		o Local government o Affordable Housing Developers o CBOs	See endnote 1.	Housing and Community Committee
A5	Support local initiatives to protect existing affordable rental housing from conversion to market-rate ownership housing	Existing	o Local government o Affordable Housing Developers o CBOs	See endnote 1.	Housing and Community and ELPR Committees
B	Fac Facilitate access to existing housing stock by homeless people and those who have extremely low incomes.
B1	Through outreach and education regarding the benefits, encourage private and nonprofit landlords to accept extremely low-income tenants, including those with Section 8 vouchers and those who fail routine selection criteria due to previous eviction, poor credit history, prior homelessness or criminal justice history.	Existing and Planned	o Local government o Affordable Housing Developers o CBOs o Landlords	See endnote 1.	Housing and Community Committee
B1¸	Facilitate agreements where community-based organizations master lease housing from landlords and rent it to homeless people with Section 8 vouchers. The community-based organization is responsible for managing the property, including collecting rent for the landlord.	Existing and Planned	o Local government o CBOs o Landlords .	See endnote 1.	Housing and Community Committee
B2	Develop a database of affordable housing in Santa Clara County		o Local government o Affordable Housing Developers o CBOs	See endnote 1.	Housing and Community and New Technology Committees
B3	Enhance housing assistance services to homeless and/or extremely low-income persons to help them obtain and maintain housing through legal and financial counseling, life skills workshops and list of landlords who accept Section 8 vouchers and rental and security deposit guarantees.	Planned	o Local government o Affordable Housing Developers o CBOs o Colleges o Bar associations/guilds	See endnote 1.	Housing and Community Committee
B4	Enforce existing fair housing law to ensure that people have access to affordable housing and are not subject to discriminatory housing practices	Existing	o Local government o Affordable Housing Developers o CBOs o Landlords o Bar associations/guilds	See endnote 1.	Housing and Community Committee
B6¸	Support initiative to increase the period during which Section 8 vouchers are valid.		o Local government o Affordable Housing Developers o CBOs o FBOs	See endnote 1.	Housing and Community and ELPR Committees
B6¸	Support initiatives to allow a community-based recalculation of the value of the Section 8 voucher.		o Local government o Affordable Housing Developers o CBOs	See endnote 1.	Housing and Community and ELPR Committees
B7	Utilize currently unused or underused housing for people who are homeless or have extremely low incomes. Outreach to people who have room in their homes to rent and expand shared housing programs.	Existing	o Local government o Affordable Housing Developers o CBOs	See endnote 1.	Housing and Community Committee
C	Expand the stock of extremely low-income permanent housing for individuals and families.
C1	Advocate for more funding for housing affordable to homeless people including support for the expansion of the federal low income housing credit, increased funding for Section 8 and Public Housing and for preferences in federally-funded affordable housing for homeless people.		o Local government o Affordable Housing Developers o CBOs .	See endnote 1.	Housing and Community and ELPR Committees
C2	Support maintenance of the Santa Clara County Housing Trust, and advocate for a significant percentage of its funds to be allocated to extremely low-income affordable housing.	Existing	o Local government o Steering Committee o Affordable Housing Developers o CBOs	See endnote 1.	Housing and Community Committee
C3	As an incentive to encourage local governments to develop affordable housing, support the allocation of more property tax revenues to local governments that keep pace with their housing demand		o	See endnote 1.	Housing and Community and ELPR Committees
C4	Require in all future building developments at least 20% set-asides for housing affordable to extremely low-income person		o Local government o Affordable Housing Developers o CBOs	See endnote 1.	Housing and Community Committee
C5	Enhance physical accessibility of affordable housing and market to those in need; educate those in need regarding their legal rights to accessible units	Existing	o Local government o Affordable Housing Developers o CBOs o Bar associations and guilds	See endnote 1.	Housing and Community Committee
C8	Provide assistance and incentives to developers to develop affordable housing, review procedures that expedite applications for extremely low-income housing projects and work toward the goal of reducing development costs and time delays.	Existing	o Local government o Affordable Housing Developers o CBOs .	See endnote 1.	Housing and Community Committee
C9	Review land use regulations in the County and its cities to facilitate development of more affordable housing.	Existing	o Local government o Affordable Housing Developers o CBOs	See endnote 1.	Housing and Community Committee
C10	Consider increasing the number of homes which can be built per acre	Existing	o Local government o Affordable Housing Developers o CBOs .	See endnote 1.	Housing and Community Committee

 

Action Step No.	Action Step	Status	Who to Implement	Possible Funding	Who to Oversee
	PERMANENT SUPPORTIVE HOUSING
A	Sustain and enhance existing permanent supportive housing programs, and expand system capacity for individuals and families with mental health or substance abuse concerns, or with HIV/AIDS.
A1	Develop a permanent, long-term funding stream for Shelter Plus Care supportive housing units	Existing	o Local government o Affordable Housing Developers o CBOs .	See endnote 1.	Housing and Community Committee
A3	Engage mainstream service providers, health care professionals, and professional associations and hospitals in providing advocacy, financial and volunteer services to supportive housing programs	Existing	o Local government o Affordable Housing Developers o Mainstream providers o CBOs	See endnote 1.	Housing and Community Committee
A4	Access funds, when available, through AB 2034 and other state sources, for housing for the severely mentally ill and dually diagnosed	Planned	o Local government o Affordable Housing Developers o County Mental Health o CBOs	See endnote 1.	Housing and Community Committee

 

Action Step No.	Action Step	Status	Who to Implement	Possible Funding	Who to Oversee
	COMMUNITY ACCEPTANCE
A	Increase community awareness of homelessness and strengthen community support for homeless housing services.
A1	Develop a public education campaign to improve public understanding of homelessness, dispel myths regarding declining property values and public safety, and show the benefit of affordable housing and services.	Existing	o Local government o Affordable Housing Developers o Local businesses o CBOs o FBOs	See endnote 1.	Housing and Community and Education, Legislation and Public Relations ("ELPR") Committees
A2	Target education efforts at political leaders to increase their understanding of the causes of homelessness and the solutions that are needed, including the full range of shelter and housing programs.		o Local government o County Mental Health o CBOs o FBOs o Homeless persons	See endnote 1.	Housing and Community and ELPR Committees
B	Use community acceptance strategies to build support for specific efforts to site affordable housing or services for homeless people.
B1	Plan a community acceptance strategy early in the development process, including how to enter the community, how to build support among political leaders and how to win zoning and permit approvals	Existing	o Local government o Affordable Housing Developers o CBOs	See endnote 1.	Housing and Community and ELPR Committees
B2	Build high quality projects, disbursed throughout the community, as successfully modeled in San Jose	Existing	o Local government o Affordable Housing Developers o CBOs	See endnote 1.	Housing and Community and ELPR Committees
B3	Encourage adoption of City ordinances requiring mandatory dispute resolution practices when controversies over development of housing or programs arise.	Existing	o Local government o CBOs	See endnote 1.	Housing and Community and ELPR Committees
B4	Encourage providers to become educated concerning zoning rules and to participate in the zoning decision-making process.	Existing	o Local government o Affordable Housing Developers o CBOs o FBOs	See endnote 1.	Housing and Community and ELPR Committees
B5	Continue to serve elected officials by testifying, arranging site visits and providing written information about homelessness and affordable housing services	Existing	o Local government o CBOs	See endnote 1.	Housing and Community and ELPR Committees
C	Advocate for federal and state legislation to protect housing programs from NIMBY opposition.
C1	Support federal and state initiatives for legislation to protect housing programs from NIMBY opposition by requiring that the denial of a local zoning permit be overridden if the locality has not met its housing need		o Local government o Affordable Housing Developers o CBOs	See endnote 1.	Housing and Community and ELPR Committees

Endnote 1:

Funding for these action steps may come from all "housing and services funding sources at the federal, state and local level, including CDBG, HOME, HOPWA, Section 202 Elderly Housing Program, Emergency Shelter Grants, Section 811 Disabled Housing Program, Low Income Housing Tax Credits, Supportive Housing Program, Section 8 Moderate Rehabilitation Single SRO, Shelter + Care, HPPE IV, Medi-Cal funds, Emergency Housing Assistance Program, California HCD Multifamily Housing Program, AB 2034 funds, Affordable Housing Bonds, Tax Increment Bonds, Housing Trust, private owner equity, private funds and donors and lenders.

FIRST AND SECOND YEAR ACTION STEPS

CREATE A SUCCESSFUL, STABLE WORKFORCE

Action Step No.	Action Step	Status	Who to Implement	Possible Funding	Who to Oversee
	LIFTING THE BARRIERS TO WORK
A	Strengthen and expand existing programs offering pre-employment services.
A1	Expand the availability of pre-employment services, including work culture orientation, soft skills, ESL, work place ethics, literacy training, resume preparation, and job search and placement support.		o CBOs o Colleges and universities	Government Funds Private Funds	Jobs and Income Committee
A2	Expand pre-employment services for TANF enrollees, including classes and training in basic education, workplace culture.		o CBOs o County	Government Funds Private Funds	Jobs and Income Committee
B	Strengthen and expand efforts to prepare homeless people to enter higher paying jobs, including those in high technology fields.
B1	Facilitate access to vocational training for homeless people to fast track homeless persons into employment with education support as appropriate, emphasizing programs which offer specific, marketable skills in demand in the labor market and which offer living wage employment. Coordinate to provide access to transitional housing for clients attending a vocational training program.		o CBOs o Housing providers o Vocational training providers	Government Funds Private Funds	Jobs and Income Committee
B3	Ensure referral information about homeless employment, education and job training services is easily accessible at countywide informational kiosks and self-sufficiency center sites.		o CBOs o County	Government Funds Private Funds	Jobs and Income Committee
C	Identify and alleviate the major barriers to employment for homeless people with special needs.
C2	Establish connections with local community colleges to assist clients with learning disabilities.		o CBOs o Local community colleges	Government Funds Private Funds	Jobs and Income Committee
	SUCCEEDING AT WORK
A	Increase the level of financial assistance and in-kind supports for people who are employed but not making a living wage.
A1	Advocate for a more effective CalWORKs Program, including for a lower number of work hours required and for childcare.		o County o CBOs	Government Funds Private Funds	Jobs and Income and Education, Legislation and Public Relations ("ELPR") Committees
A2	Ensure that GA is fully utilized to support eligible recipients.		o SSA o CBOs	Government Funds Private Funds	Jobs and Income Committee
A3	Create a Countywide money management program to provide budgeting and money management skills training, provide financial counseling, assist clients in collecting past and current federal Earned Income Tax Credits and assist agencies and clients in taking advantage of the Individual Development Account savings initiative.		o CBOs o Community colleges, and universities	Government Funds Private Funds	Jobs and Income Committee
A4	Advocate for mechanisms to accumulate assets.		o CBOs	Government Funds Private Funds	Jobs and Income and ELPR Committees
B	Provide services to facilitate job retention by homeless and formerly homeless people who are entering employment, and by TANF graduates who are entering the work force.
B1	Provide comprehensive case management to newly-employed workers who are homeless, formerly homeless or recent graduates of the TANF program		o CBOs o County	Government Funds Private Funds	Jobs and Income Committee
B2	Create a mentor and peer support program to facilitate job retention.		o CBOs	Government Funds Private Funds	Jobs and Income Committee
B3	Develop a network of service providers.		o Shelter Providers Network o CBOs	Government Funds Private Funds	Jobs and Income Committee
	CREATING MORE EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES
A	Expand the number of living wage jobs available to homeless people.
A1	Create industry-specific training programs, especially in the fields of informational technology and construction, including a dedicated source of entry level positions for program graduates.	Existing	o CBOs o Employers	Government Funds Private Funds	Jobs and Income Committee
A2	Create designated liaisons with private, public and non-profit sector employers to facilitate placement of homeless people in jobs.		o CBOs	Government Funds Private Funds	Jobs and Income Committee
A3	Outreach to employers to hire homeless persons from training programs.		o CBOs	Government Funds Private Funds	Jobs and Income Committee

FIRST AND SECOND YEAR ACTION STEPS

GENERATE WELLNESS AND PROVIDE LIFE’S NECESSITIES

 

Action Step No.	Action Step	Status	Who to Implement	Possible Funding	Who to Oversee
	FOOD AND DIETARY NEEDS
A	Facilitate access to and utilization of government food programs.
A1	Maintain and expand, including in mainstream agencies, programs that conduct outreach to homeless people and assist them with completion of application forms for benefits, including food stamps, WIC and income assistance. Especially target outreach to those hardest to serve and enroll people at sites where potential recipients gather.	Existing	o Local government o CBOs o FBOs	Federal, state and local government funds	Wellness and Life’s Necessities Committee
A2	Provide training and technical assistance to ensure that homeless service providers are aware of federal, state, and local food programs, including eligibility criteria and how and where eligible people can apply. Create and maintain a current database of this information, accessible electronically and on paper, to homeless service providers and people who are homeless.	Existing	o County Social Services o Food Providers o CBOs	Federal, state and local government funds	Wellness and Life’s Necessities and New Technology Committees
	TRANSPORTATION
A	Expand transit services to enable homeless people to access social service agencies within their communities as well as obtain services in other part of the County. This expansion is especially needed in South County.
A4	Expand eligibility for the Homeless Transit Pass Program to include those who are not living in a shelter, those in transition from homelessness to stable employment and for homeless students.	Planned	o County o School Districts o VTA	County School Districts VTA	Wellness and Life’s Necessities Committee
A5	Provide additional resources for transportation assistance.		o County o School Districts o VTA	Federal, state and local government funds Private Funds	Wellness and Life’s Necessities Committee
A6	Enhance service providers’ knowledge of transportation services through appointment of information officers and monthly meetings.	Planned	o Shelter Providers Network	Federal, state and local government funds Private Funds	Wellness and Life’s Necessities Committee
A7	Create and maintain a current database of transportation services for homeless people, accessible electronically and on paper to homeless service providers and people who are homeless.	Planned	o County o CBOs	Federal, state and local government funds Private Funds	Wellness and Life’s Necessities and New Technology Committees
	EDUCATION AND LANGUAGE SKILLS
A	Facilitate enrollment and attendance in school by homeless children.
A1	Make preparations to facilitate a smooth transition with the student’s next move by having the parent sign a release of information form when they initiate the current record.	Planned	o County Office of Education o Local school districts o Shelter Providers Network	Government funds	Wellness and Life’s Necessities
A2	Expand into all districts a program providing parents assistance in completing school applications and signing release of information forms at enrollment.	Planned	o County Office of Education o Local school districts o Shelter Providers Network	Government funds	Wellness and Life’s Necessities
B	Improve the ability of public schools to meet the special needs of homeless children.
B1	Require the Santa Clara County Office of Education to analyze how best to meet the educational needs of homeless children and to support all school districts in the County in understanding homelessness. Establish minimum standards for meeting the needs of school staff and homeless students around such issues as transportation, clothing, equipment and supplies as well as classroom performance.		o County Office of Education o School Districts o CBOs	Government funds	Wellness and Life’s Necessities Committee
B3	Develop a training program that would inform administrators, teachers, and other school-related personnel (e.g. bus drivers), homeless service providers, and homeless people about homelessness and its effect on children, the legal right of homeless children with respect to education, and school district policies pertaining to homeless children.		o County Office of Education o School Districts o CBOs	Government funds	Wellness and Life’s Necessities Committee
B4	Establish and implement best practices to ensure that all homeless children/children living in shelters receive the school resources they need to succeed.		o County Office of Education o School Districts o CBOs o Advocates	Government funds	Wellness and Life’s Necessities Committee
C	Increase the educational opportunities for homeless parents.
C1	Expand ESL classes in parts of the County where there is a need.		o County Office of Education o School Districts	Government funds	Wellness and Life’s Necessities Committee
C2	Support life-long learning opportunities for homeless adults.		o County Office of Education o School Districts o Community colleges o Private universities	Government funds	Wellness and Life’s Necessities and Education, Legislation and Public Relations ("ELPR") Committees
	CHILDCARE
A	Expand the availability of childcare services for homeless families.
A1	Advocate to ensure that childcare subsidies for low-income children have a percentage set-aside for homeless children.	Planned	o Social services o State	Government funds	Wellness and Life’s Necessities and ELPR Committees
A3	Negotiate set-asides and waiting list priority for homeless children with childcare providers located near shelters and transitional housing sites. Access to reserved slots should be linked to vocational training and case management programs.		o Social services o CBOs	Government funds	Wellness and Life’s Necessities Committee
A4	Provide assistance to homeless families in completing childcare eligibility documentation.	Existing	o CBOs	Government funds Private funds	Wellness and Life’s Necessities Committee
C	Improve the quality of child care services available for homeless children.
C2	Increase the quality of child care by hiring licensed staff, paying staff competitive wages and providing for on-going staff development through skills building programs and access to educational opportunities.	Existing	o CBOs	Government funds Private Funds	Wellness and Life’s Necessities Committee
	CASE MANAGEMENT AND LIFE SKILLS
A	Strengthen and expand existing case management and life skills services.
A1	Enhance case management and life skills services which are available with shelter beds to include a holistic, wraparound approach coordinated by providers.	Existing	o Public sector o Shelter Providers Network o CBOs	Government funds Private Funds	Wellness and Life’s Necessities Committee
A3	Sustain and expand the collaborative of case managers from homeless agencies and mainstream agencies which serve people who are homeless to share resources, assist with referrals and develop a best practices training program.	Planned	o Public sector o Shelter Providers Network o CBOs	Government funds Private Funds	Wellness and Life’s Necessities Committee
A5	Sustain and expand in shelters and transitional housing programs a continuum of case management which continues when housing at the program ends		o Public sector o Shelter Providers Network o CBOs	Government funds Private Funds	Wellness and Life’s Necessities Committee
A6	Provide technical assistance to front line staff to recognize clients in crisis.	Existing	o Public sector o Shelter Providers Network o CBOs	Government funds Private Funds	Wellness and Life’s Necessities Committee
	MEDICAL ATTENTION AND DENTISTRY
A	Facilitate access to medical and dental services by homeless people.
A1	Establish a process at shelters in the County to medically evaluate homeless people upon intake and, if health services are needed, give immediate access to healthcare providers.	Existing	o Valley Medical Center o County Public Health o CBOs	Government Funds Private Funds	Wellness and Life’s Necessities Committee
A2	Collaborate with clinics and other providers of health care services for the homeless to facilitate one-stop access of homeless people to comprehensive health and dental services and to expedite services for those with chronic illnesses.		o County Public Health o County Mental Health o CBOs	Government Funds Private Funds	Wellness and Life’s Necessities Committee
A5	Facilitate coordination among public and non-profit health care clinics so that services can be organized in a manner that results in extended hours at clinics.	Existing and planned	o Valley Medical Center o County Public Health o CBOs	Government Funds Private Funds	Wellness and Life’s Necessities Committee
A6	Provide tokens for transportation to health care services.		o County o VTA	Government funds Private funds	Wellness and Life’s Necessities Committee
A8	Advocate to expand the eligibility for Medi-Cal or Healthy Families benefits to people who are homeless or at-risk of homelessness.	Existing	o County o City o CBOs	Government funds Private funds	Wellness and Life’s Necessities and ELPR Committees
A9	Advocate for increased outreach efforts and a simplified enrollment process for Medi-Cal and Healthy Families benefits in order to facilitate enrollment of people who are homeless or at-risk of homelessness.	Existing	o County o City o CBOs	Government funds Private funds	Wellness and Life’s Necessities and ELPR Committees
B	Integrate health service provision so that homeless people can access a comprehensive package of care that includes, primary care, mental health treatment, substance abuse treatment, dental care, and HIV/AIDS and STDs prevention.
B2	Facilitate collaboration among public and non-profit health clinics to provide one stop treatment for homeless people inclusive of all of the above services.		o County Public Health o County Mental Health o CBOs	Government funds Private funds	Wellness and Life’s Necessities Committee
	RECOVERY AND TREATMENT
A	Expand the availability of alcohol and drug treatment services for homeless people.
A1	Expand the number of detox, outpatient, short-term residential, and long-term residential treatment slots available to homeless people.		o Department of Drug and Alcohol o Probation	State	Wellness and Life’s Necessities Committee
	MENTAL HEALTH TREATMENT
A	Expand access to and the availability of mental health services for homeless people.
A1	Expand the number of mental health programs offered county-wide so that homeless persons in all communities have access to mental health services.		o County Mental Health o CBOs	Government funds Private funds	Wellness and Life’s Necessities Committee
A2	Provide technical assistance to front line staff in homeless shelters and service programs so they can recognize clients in crisis and take appropriate action
A7	Increase treatment capacity for people with mental illness and co-occurring substance abuse disorders.		o County Mental Health o CBOs	Government funds Private funds	Wellness and Life’s Necessities Committee
A8	Advocate that more funding be allocated for mental health treatment services for the homeless people and those who are at-risk of homelessness.		o County Mental Health o CBOs	Government funds Private funds	Wellness and Life’s Necessities and ELPR Committees
A9	Sustain the Intensive Alternative Program		o County Mental Health	Government funds	Wellness and Life’s Necessities Committee

FIRST AND SECOND YEAR ACTION STEPS

MAINTAIN VITALITY OF THE PLAN: SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION, COORDINATION AND CHANGE

Action Step No.	Action Step	Status	Who to Implement	Possible Funding	Who to Oversee
	ADMINISTRATION, COORDINATION AND STAFFING
A	Through the existing structure and staffing provided by the Santa Clara Collaborative on Housing and Homeless Issues and the County Homeless Services Coordinator, carry out the implementation of the Five-Year Plan.
A1	Present the Plan to (and seek acceptance/approval from) the County and each of its Cities.	Planned	o Steering Committee	County CBOs	Plan Administration, Coordination and Change Committee
A2	Implement the Plan’s action steps through collaborative efforts involving service providers, County and City government, business community, faith institutions and the general public.	Existing	o Steering Committee o County and City Government o CBOs o FBOs o Business community o General Public o Homeless persons	County CBOs	Plan Administration, Coordination and Change Committee
B	Maintain a strong County involvement and investment in fully implementing the Five Year Plan, and in reducing and ending homelessness in Santa Clara County.
B1	Charge the County Homeless Services Coordinator to take the lead in facilitating the implementation of the Plan and in leading and coordinating the County’s efforts to reduce homelessness.		o Steering Committee	County CBOs	Plan Administration, Coordination and Change Committee
B2	Charge the County Homeless Services Coordinator with representing the County in all arenas where homeless and basic safety net services are discussed.		o Steering Committee	County CBOs	Plan Administration, Coordination and Change Committee
B3	Charge the County Homeless Services Coordinator with ongoing monitoring of the functioning of the Continuum of Care system and with coordinating appropriate and timely responses to issues which arise.		o Steering Committee	County CBOs	Plan Administration, Coordination and Change Committee
C	Sustain and expand the Santa Clara Collaborative on Housing and Homeless Issues.
C1	Continue County staffing and funding of the Collaborative. Staffing is provided by the County Homeless Services Coordinator.		o Steering Committee	County CBOs	Plan Administration, Coordination and Change Committee
C2	Maintain a broad membership in the Collaborative, including housing and service providers, housing developers, advocacy and community groups as well as representatives of all of the County’s cities and towns.		o Steering Committee	County CBOs	Plan Administration, Coordination and Change Committee
C3	Continue the Collaborative’s affiliations with external groups including the Housing Trust, San Francisco Bay Area regional collaborations, and the Housing Action Coalition in order to share ideas and strategies for reducing homelessness.		o Steering Committee	County CBOs	Plan Administration, Coordination and Change Committee
D	Facilitate greater collaboration and partnership between community-based nonprofit service providers and government agencies (such as social service, basic health, safety net, education) in order to improve service delivery for homeless people.
D1	Identify opportunities for partnering between government and community based organization providers.		o State Agencies o County Agencies o City Agencies o County Homeless Services Coordinator o CBOs	County CBOs	Plan Administration, Coordination and Change Committee
D2	Document the housing status of consumers of County and City-provided basic safety net services in order to identify people who are homeless or at-risk and provide referrals to appropriate Continuum of Care services. Also, identify any barriers to obtaining public safety net services caused by homelessness.		o State Agencies o County Agencies o City Agencies o County Homeless Services Coordinator	Government Funds	Plan Administration, Coordination and Change Committee
E	Encourage the active role of faith-based institutions and organizations in providing basic safety net services and housing to homeless people.
E1	Convene periodic meetings of faith institutions to explore services and housing underway, and to plan for a coordinated role by this sector in achieving the goals of this Plan.		o FBOs o County Homeless Services Coordinator	County	Plan Administration, Coordination and Change Committee
E2	Provide technical assistance and support to faith-based entities in planning, developing and identifying funding for housing or services for homeless people		o FBOs o CBOs o County Homeless Services Coordinator	County	Plan Administration, Coordination and Change Committee
F	Facilitate the development of strong partnerships between the County and Cities in order to maintain the Countywide commitment to reducing homelessness and facilitate the implementation of this Plan.
F1	Under the auspices of the Board of Supervisors, convene an annual invitational forum to evaluate the implementation of the Plan and discuss needs and gaps in services.		o Government o County Homeless Services Coordinator	County Cities	Plan Administration, Coordination and Change Committee
F2	Conduct inter-City forums to discuss challenges to implementing the Plan, forge inter-City partnerships and enlist the Cities in providing quarterly reporting of relevant information.		o Government o County Homeless Services Coordinator	County Cities	Plan Administration, Coordination and Change Committee
	FUNDING
A	Through the Collaborative, strategically consolidate and coordinate fundraising efforts in the County, including countywide proposals for McKinney-Vento funding.
A1	Annually identify potential federal, state and local sources of funding and coordinate the development of proposals across agencies, using shared information.	Existing	o Steering Committee		Plan Administration, Coordination and Change Committee
A3	Annually review successes and challenges in fundraising efforts from the previous year, and propose appropriate action in response.		o Steering Committee		Plan Administration, Coordination and Change Committee
A5	Encourage government social service, basic health, and safety net agencies, to coordinate with the Collaborative in making funding requests of the State or Federal government relevant to homelessness issues.		o Steering Committee o CBOs o County o Cities		Plan Administration, Coordination and Change Committee and Collaborative’s SuperNOFA Committee
A6	Encourage providers to align agency long-range planning with the goals of this Plan.		o Steering Committee o CBOs		Plan Administration, Coordination and Change Committee
A7	Encourage providers to invite comment by other collaborative members on their draft strategic and long-range plans in order to facilitate achievement of the goals of this Plan.		o Steering Committee o CBOs		Plan Administration, Coordination and Change Committee
A8	Encourage cross-training, technical assistance and sharing of resources and referral information among all providers.		o Steering Committee o CBOs		Plan Administration, Coordination and Change Committee
A9	Develop a countywide, on-line data collection system which will provide information to assist in resource development efforts. This system should be part of the proposed standardized reservation and assessment system.		o Steering Committee o CBOs o County Mainstream Agencies o City Mainstream Agencies		Plan Administration, Coordination and Change and New Technology Committees
B	Identify additional local funding sources for homeless housing and services.
B1	Support increased funding from the Housing Trust for homeless needs, especially extremely low-income housing.		o Steering Committee		Plan Administration, Coordination and Change and Education, Legislation and Public Relations ("ELPR") Committee
B3	Support examination and realignment of the tax revenue base of the jurisdiction to encourage development of permanent housing affordable to extremely low-income persons.		o Steering Committee		Plan Administration, Coordination and Change and ELPR Committees
B4	Support economic incentives to developers to develop housing for extremely low-income persons.		o Steering Committee		Plan Administration, Coordination, and Change, Housing and Community and ELPR Committees
	COLLECTION OF DATA, PLAN EVALUATION AND COMMUNICATION
A	Collect accurate data and solicit input from the community, service providers and homeless people that can be used to evaluate gaps in services and program effectiveness, and which can be the basis for amending this Five Year Plan to better meet the needs of those who are homeless.
A1	Develop a countywide, on-line data collection system which will collect information across agencies about the demographics of the homeless population, gaps in services, and service outcomes.		o Steering Committee o CBOs o County Mainstream Agencies o City Mainstream Agencies	County	New Technology Committee
A2	Develop agency capacity to participate in on-line data collection and dissemination systems.		o Steering Committee o CBOs	County	New Technology Committee
A3	Conduct annual community meetings to obtain input about the effectiveness of the County’s Continuum of Care system and about where improvements are needed.		o Steering Committee o CBOs o County Mainstream Agencies o City Mainstream Agencies o Homeless and recently homeless persons	County	Plan Administration, Coordination and Change Committee
A4	Review data collected and input provided to identify gaps in services, eliminate unnecessary duplications in service provision, and evaluate program effectiveness. Submit proposals for amending this Plan to the Collaborative for review.		o Steering Committee	County	Plan Administration, Coordination and Change Committee
B	Foster better communication between members of the Collaborative through use of computers and other technology.
B1	Develop an e-mail system at all levels of the Collaborative.		o Steering Committee o CBOs	County	New Technology Committee
C	Develop relationships with the community through education and advocacy efforts to change misconceptions of homelessness and engage the public’s support for the Continuum of Care.
C1	Educate the community regarding the impact of poverty by providing up-to-date information regarding housing, health, nutrition, employment, education, and other homelessness issues. Promote widespread knowledge of the success of services and housing provided.		o Steering Committee	County	Education, Legislation and Public Relations Committee
C2	Sustain and enhance the work of the Collaborative’s Education, Legislation and Public Relations Committee. Identify funding to support education and outreach to the public.		o Steering Committee	County	Plan Administration, Coordination and Change Committee