Cold Weather Shelter Program in Place for North County Homeless

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SAN JOSE –Today, the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors approved a package of shelter programs that will ensure 125 North County homeless will have a warm, dry place to put their heads down this winter (November 30th, 2015 – March 31st, 2016). The shelter beds are located in Palo Alto, East Palo Alto and Sunnyvale, in both existing and new facilities. The new beds replace the 125 beds lost when the Sunnyvale Armory was closed, and redeveloped for permanent affordable housing. 

The replacement beds come as a result of an April 2014 proposal made by Supervisor Joe Simitian, who represents much of the North County and West Valley on the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors. Simitian reflected on today’s action by observing that, “After 18 months of looking, and last year’s cobbled-together best effort, it’s good to know that this year we have 125 real beds where people can come in out of the cold and wet. This will be particularly important if the El Niño predictions come true.”

The three sites are:

• Palo Alto, Hotel de Zink – 5 additional beds. This program is run by InnVision Shelter Network.
• East Palo Alto, Project WeHOPE – 20 additional beds.
• Sunnyvale, Temporary Cold Weather Shelter at former Onizuka site – 100 additional beds. This program is run by HomeFirst and will be in place for the 2015-16 cold weather season (November 30th, 2015 – March 31st, 2016). At the end of the season, the County will remove the temporary structures, and reuse them in subsequent years.

Simitian also voiced support for the additional services the County will provide at the Sunnyvale Shelter. “It’s important we do what we can to mitigate the impact these types of facilities can have on neighbors. Stepped up security, more flexible operating hours and staff on-site 24/7, even when the shelter is closed, will help ensure we’re a good neighbor. It also increases the likelihood we can help some of the folks we’re serving move up and out of homelessness.”

Simitian continued, “Providing an emergency cold weather shelter doesn’t ‘solve’ homelessness, but it does save lives. I remember all too well the cold snap in December 2014, when four homeless men lost their lives to exposure in a single week.”

Simitian also highlighted the value of working across county lines to serve the homeless. “The beds at Project WeHOPE in East Palo Alto, in San Mateo County, are much closer than the beds in San Jose where some North County homeless had to go to find shelter last winter,” he said. “I think the public can appreciate the commonsense notion that we shouldn’t let artificial city and county boundaries get in the way.” 

Tom Myers, Executive Director of Community Services Agency Mountain View, spoke to the collaboration between his organization and the County. “I’m pleased the County will be partnering with our Emergency Assistance Network to ensure the most vulnerable in our community won’t be left out in the cold,” Myers said. “We’ll actually be able to refer our clients to a shelter where a bed will be reserved for them. No more uncertainty, no more waiting in lines. This is an important next step.”

Statistics from the County’s most recent homeless count (January 2015) confirmed the worry that after the Sunnyvale Armory Shelter closed in 2014, the number of unsheltered homeless in the surrounding communities of Palo Alto, Mountain View and Los Altos would increase. “The Armory shut down, and those folks were out on the streets throughout the North County,” said Simitian. “I’m hoping for a better result this year, and in the years ahead.”