Nonprofit HomeFirst to pull out of South Bay homeless shelter after discrimination allegations

Facing allegations of discrimination, one of Santa Clara County’s largest homeless service providers plans to cease operating a county-owned shelter in Sunnyvale, saying continuing to run the roughly 140-bed facility “within a framework that perpetuates misinformation” would be a “distraction from our other important work.”

Milpitas-based HomeFirst plans to continue overseeing the site through June, when another provider to be selected by the county is expected to take over.

The nonprofit, which operates about a dozen shelter facilities across the South Bay, has repeatedly denied the claims it discriminated against Black shelter employees and residents of the Sunnyvale shelter. The local chapter of the NAACP, along with other community advocates, including Silicon Valley De-Bug and the Santa Clara County Wage Theft Coalition, brought the allegations to light last fall.

René Ramirez, HomeFirst’s chief operating officer, said in a statement the accusations have been pushed by “a small number of uninformed voices.” He added it’s in the best interest “of our clients, staff and organization to move on from operating the shelter.” Ramirez declined to say whether current employees could be laid off.

Rev. Jethroe Moore II, president of the San Jose/Silicon Valley chapter of the NAACP, said he hopes officials will investigate HomeFirst’s decision.

“They’re just going to pull out and drop and leave?” Moore asked. “It’s because they know they were wrong, and they were unable and unwilling to fix the problem there.”

HomeFirst’s decision came just days before the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors was set to vote Tuesday on whether to extend HomeFirst’s soon-expiring shelter contract or award it to another operator.

Ahead of the vote, supervisors asked county staff to review the discrimination allegations. Staff responded that no shelter residents or employees had filed discrimination complaints with the county or state and federal civil rights agencies.

Supervisor Otto Lee, whose district includes the Sunnyvale shelter, did not immediately return a request for comment. He previously indicated to this news organization that he planned to ask staff “a lot of in-depth questions” on the day of the vote.

At county public meetings and in local news reports, five former shelter employees have publicly accused the nonprofit of wrongfully firing them after altercations with shelter residents or allegedly violating shelter policies. They claim Non-Black employees involved in similar incidents kept their jobs.

Advocates also claim Black shelter residents at the site have been repeatedly discharged for minor incidents and left to fend for themselves on the street.

HomeFirst officials maintain the five employees were fired for cause but declined to go into detail, citing the organization’s personnel policy. They denied the nonprofit discriminates against anyone and said it only discharges shelter residents as a last resort, typically for safety concerns related to behavior or for reaching the 120-day maximum and not receiving an extension.

The nonprofit contends the advocates are pushing claims to discredit its effort to help many of the county’s estimated 10,000 unhoused residents.

After reviewing the accusations, county staff were prepared to recommend that supervisors renew the nonprofit’s contract for the group shelter near the intersection of Highways 101 and 237. But on March 15, HomeFirst told the county it planned to withdraw its bid for a contract extension. It informed shelter staff on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, supervisors are now set to vote on awarding HomeFirst up to $1 million to temporarily extend the contract until June 30, giving the county time to find another provider. Since 2018, the county has sent HomeFirst around $34 million to oversee the facility.

Supervisors are also scheduled to vote Tuesday on approving up to $12.9 million to help HomeFirst run three shelters in San Jose, Mountain View and Gilroy, and a $247,500 agreement to allow the nonprofit to place homeless people in permanent housing.

Additionally, the San Jose City Council on Tuesday is set to consider a $4.2 million contract with HomeFirst for street outreach.

The votes come as HomeFirst also faces a class-action lawsuit over separate compensation claims. And more current and former employees have recently considered filing a potential discrimination complaint, which could lead to another lawsuit or state fine against the nonprofit, according to Ruth Silver Taube, a prominent South Bay employment lawyer.

In 2019, the state labor commissioner fined HomeFirst more than $17,700 for wage theft violations, according to court records.

HomeFirst officials said they had little information about the state wage theft fines for meal and break period violations because staff members who dealt with the matter no longer work for the nonprofit. They declined to comment on the class action suit, filed in Santa Clara County and alleging similar labor infractions, because the case is pending.