Santa Clara County joins Biden administration’s housing plan

The plan seeks to house 100,000 American households by December.

Santa Clara County on Thursday joined the Biden administration’s ambitious push to house 100,000 American households by the end of this year, seeking to emphasize the region’s commitment to get people off the streets as the Bay Area continues to struggle with growing crises of homelessness and affordability.

Santa Clara County became the 100th community to join the federal “House America” initiative that launched last year with partnerships from San Jose, Oakland and San Francisco. By joining, communities commit to using American Rescue Plan dollars and other federal resources made available during the COVID-19 pandemic to make significant strides in housing their homeless residents.

While Thursday’s announcement does not bring additional resources to Santa Clara County, local leaders viewed it as an opportunity to showcase the county’s commitment.

“Santa Clara County is and will continue to be all in for this work, and we look forward to continue to serve as a model for communities across the country,” Supervisor Susan Ellenberg said during a Zoom press conference headed by U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Marcia Fudge.

When the federal initiative launched in September, Oakland and San Francisco jumped on board with a pledge to house 1,500 people each by the end of 2022. Oakland also promised to build 132 new units of housing. San Jose announced a tentative goal of housing 1,134 people and building 861 units. Neither city immediately responded to questions about the progress they’ve made toward those goals.

Santa Clara County didn’t unveil a new goal on Thursday, but the county has a long-standing target of housing 20,000 people between 2020 and 2025. As of February, the county had housed 6,000 people since 2020. Santa Clara County also plans to essentially end homelessness for families with children by 2025. The county is on track to house 1,200 families by October, Ellenberg said. An estimated 600 families become homeless in the county each year.

As of January, it was estimated there were more than 10,000 unhoused people living in Santa Clara County.

Calling Silicon Valley a “hotspot” in the crisis, Fudge said Santa Clara County has the fourth largest homeless population in the nation.

“We cannot continue to sweep and move encampments from one area to another or from one city to another and think we are solving the problem,” she said.

So far, communities participating in the House America initiative have dedicated more than $400 million in grants toward housing efforts, and have allocated more than 95% of their emergency housing vouchers, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development. In addition to housing 100,000 people, the initiative seeks to create at least 20,000 new units of affordable housing.

Those goals are backed by federal resources that increased during the pandemic, including the American Rescue Plan, which provided 70,000 emergency housing vouchers, $5 billion in “HOME” housing grants, and more. But local homelessness and affordable housing experts say additional federal funding is needed to fix the problem.

HUD holds virtual gatherings of House America leaders twice a month to share best practices, and offers tools and technical assistance to help House America communities meet their goals.

The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors recently voted to join the House America initiative to signal the county is on board with the Biden administration’s plan, said Preston Prince, executive director of the Santa Clara County Housing Authority.

“For us, it’s highlighting the amazing collaboration that’s already happening,” he said, “and has been happening for years between the city, the county, the housing authority, Destination: Home and the continuum of care partners.”