HOMELESS
INITIATIVES
UPDATE
CITY MANAGER’S OFFICE
HUMAN SERVICES DIVISION2023 | DECEMBER
2023
UPDATE ON INITIATIVES TO ASSIST
HOMELESS AND UNSTABLY HOUSED
RESIDENTS
Attachment 5
Homelessness is a significant issue, driven in large part by shortfalls in housing supply and affordable housing throughout the region and the State.
Since 2016, the City has developed programs and policies and dedicated nearly in funding to serve homeless and unstably housed residents. Throughout this time, the City has actively collaborated with the County and community-based organizations (CBO) that have staff expertise and dedicated funding streams for working with homeless and vulnerable populations. In addition, the City is recognized as a regional leader in developing and funding affordable housing, with an investment of nearly $130 million.
In Fiscal Year 2021-22, the City created the Human Services Division to lead the City’s programs, services, and partnerships to meet the needs of Mountain View’s most vulnerable residents and improve the quality of life for all residents. The Division works in collaboration with a network of service providers to assist homeless, unstably housed, and other vulnerable residents through housing services, mental health services, and other basic-need human services.
This report provides a comprehensive update and overview on the City’s extensive homeless programs and initiatives, including:
Homeless trends in Mountain View,
Overview of strategies and actions to address homelessness, Key partnerships,
CBO and interagency partner service highlights,
The City’s investment in homeless solutions, and
A Glossary for program definitions.
All data in this report is from Fiscal Year 2022-23 unless otherwise stated.
INTRODUCTION
$11.9 million
2015 2017 2019 2022 2023
City of Mountain View 276 416 606 346 562
County of Santa Clara 6,556 7,394 9,706 10,028 9,903
PIT Count Comparison – City of Mountain View and County of Santa Clara (2015-2023) The one-year shift for Mountain View in 2022 is mainly attributed by a data collection change. The PIT count contractor has determined that participants in Mountain View’s safe parking program were likely not counted in 2022.
HOMELESSNESS TRENDS IN MV
City Living in Vehicles Count
In addition to the County count, the City also conducts an annual street-by-street count of vehicles that appear to be in use for living purposes. Over the past six years, the count of vehicles in the public right-of- way used for living has ranged from 200 to 300 vehicles, with the recent counts trending downward.
The County of Santa Clara completes a comprehensive, biannual, “point-in-time” (PIT) homeless count, which serves as a baseline for understanding homelessness in the region. This count includes those who are unsheltered and unstably housed, enumerating individuals and families sleeping in emergency shelters and transitional housing as well as people sleeping on the streets, in vehicles, abandoned properties, or other places not meant for human habitation
Note: Since February 2020, the data does not include Safe Parking lot vehicles.
INFLOW
Requested housing
for the first time
OUTFLOW
Exited to
permanent housing
ANNUAL FLOW OF INDIVIDUALS
ENTERING AND EXITING
HOMELESSNESS
As part of the County’s 2020-2025 Community Plan to End Homelessness, the County has a goal to achieve a 30% reduction in annual inflow of people becoming homeless. Inflow is defined as the number of households completing a Vulnerability Index – Service Prioritization Decision Assistance Tool (VI- SPDAT) for the first time, an indication of a request for housing for the first time. Despite the various programs and strategies to address homelessness, the City had a surplus of 145 individuals who requested housing for the first time but did not exit to a housing program or permanent housing in Fiscal Year 2022-23.
CITY OF MOUNTAIN VIEW AND
COUNTY OF SANTA CLARA
(FY 2022-23)
City affiliation for outflow is based on self-reported data from a client's most recent VI-SPDAT assessment and data collected at any program enrollment. This includes location of workplace, school, city spent most time in, city lived in prior to becoming homeless, and ZIP code of last known address. City affiliation for inflow is based on responses to city affiliation questions of the client's first VI-SPDAT assessment.
Core Housing Programs
Includes Homeless Prevention , Permanent Supportive Housing , Affordable Housing, and Market Rate Housing. $5.3 Million
1,723
City Rent Relief Program
Approximately 1,700 deed-restricted
affordable units (approximately 1,500 units in
100% affordable projects; approximately 200
below-market-rate units)
200 Units
1,650
Rapid rehousing /permanent
supportive housing funded
Affordable housing units in
the pipeline, which includes
nearly 350 below-market-
rate units.
20 Households
14,393
Assisted through supportive
housing contract with County
12,717 fully covered rental
units and 1,676 partially
covered rental units
Safe Parking Interim Housing Emergency Shelter
OVERVIEW OF STRATEGIES AND
ACTIONS TO ADDRESS
HOMELESSNESS
The Homeless Prevention Program aims to
provide funds to keep individuals in stable
housing to prevent homelessness.
Permanent Supportive Housing provides longer-term rental assistance, case management, and supportive services to the most vulnerable chronically homeless individuals and families in the community.
Includes joint City-County funding for CSA
outreach, City multilingual outreach strategies
and multi-channel communications, MVPD
Outreach Team resource flyer distribution to
unhoused individuals living in vehicles, and the
MVPD Community Services Officer position.
Outreach Service
Includes County funding for CSA Homeless Case
Manager for housing referrals and current City full
funding for the ongoing program, in addition to
funding for case management/ permanent
supportive housing units for 20 chronically
homeless households in partnership with the
County (New Directions—A Program of Peninsula
Healthcare Connections).
Communit y Resources,Access, or Case Management
Includes City funding for 24/7 use of portable
restroom and hand wash stations at CSA & Hope’s
Corner, Capital funding support for Meals at
Hope’s Corner, and services provided during
COVID-19.
Basic Services, Sanitationand Hygiene
The City has continuously collaborated with the local emergency assistance network, community-based organizations, and government agencies to combine and leverage resources to help as many people in need as possible. The City has convened a standing meeting since March 2020, initially weekly and ultimately moving to monthly in July 2021.
Community Health Awareness Council
24 homeless clients received
10 free counseling sessions
43 housing insecure families with
children utilized Family Resource
Center services
Community Services Agency
984 residents assisted with housing,
information referral and case
management
Nearly 200 clients were provided
financial assistance in the sum of
$279,000
A total of 3,117 individuals received
nutritious groceries
594 loads of laundry provided
Day Worker Center of Mountain View
9,923 job placements
18,138 meals distributed
129 participants in workshops and
trainings
288 participants in ESL classes
Hope’s Corner
19,757 meals and snack bags served
1,244 individuals received food
1,077 showers provided
391 loads of laundry washed
Reach Silicon Valley
43 households in oversized vehicles
received solar generators, solar panels
and power chargers
700+ LifeMoves MV and unhoused
individuals received blankets, socks,
hygiene kits, beanies and snack bags
75 unhoused children received new
shoes and school supplies
120+ outreach, including resources,
food, clothing and meals
Cafecito
4 mental health workshops
10 Spanish-speaking refugees
received necessities
ONGOING COLLABORATION
COMMUNITY-BASED
ORGANIZATION HIGHLIGHTS
Second Harvest of Silicon Valley
5,500 individuals served
1.3 million meals served
STAND4 Inc.
1,000 boxes of free groceries served
50 unstably housed families received
free furniture
The Hope Hangar
457 visits
673 individuals served
22,850 pounds of food provided
$43,872 worth of food
The United Effort Organization
143 individuals served
318 benefit applications submitted
7 individuals helped to find housing
Valley Homeless Healthcare Program
588 visits
228 patients served
Permanent Supportive Housing
County Funded
109 Mountain View individuals
housed
85 Mountain View households
housed
City Funded
34 individuals housed
19 households housed
625 individuals in program and kept
in stable housing
256 households in program and
kept in stable housing
County-Funded Homeless Prevention
32 homeless individuals referred to
CBOs
104 homeless individuals referred to
other housing and shelter services
9 encampments removed
39 arrests related to vehicle dwellers
Includes Community Services Agency (CSA), Reach SV, The United Effort Organization, and Mountain View Solidarity Foundation.
Includes LifeMoves Mountain View, Abode Services,
HomeFirst, and MOVE Mountain View.
County-Funded Rapid Re housing
92 individuals housed
49 households housed
County of Santa Clara program providers define a Homeless Prevention Program client's affiliation with a city based on the most recent Homeless Prevention assessment. City affiliation includes work location, school location, city spent most time in, and ZIP code of address at time of program enrollment.
Clients are still housed when they take the Homeless
Prevention assessment/enroll in Homelessness Prevention programs.
Participants may be currently processed in multiple programs and data may be overlapping.
Police Community Outreach Santa Clara County Housing Authority 404 Mountain View households
assisted
$800,203 of approximate current
assistance amounts per month
INTERAGENCY PARTNER OUTCOMES
Dignity on Wh eels
2,685 showers
1,349 loads of lau ndry
McKi nney-Vento Students
265 Mountain View Whisman School
District students
70 Mountain View Los Altos High
School District students
County of Santa Clara program providers define a homeless client’s city affiliation based on workplace, school, city lived in prior to becoming homeless, and ZIP code of last permanent address at time of program enrollment. This data is taken from the most recent VI-SPDAT assessment.
County of Santa Clara and Community Services Agency (CSA) programs comply with the broad categories of homelessness defined by United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
183 individuals enrolled
112 households enrolled
3 veteran clients enrolled
114 parking space capacity (includes
both faith-based lots)
106% utilization
154 days for average length of stay for
37 clients who exited in FY 2022-23
48% of clients who exited the
program went to permanent housing
destinations
$1,290 average cost per night of
service
299 clients served
10 veteran clients
160 clients with a disability
25 clients on average per month
232 households served
129.5 days - median length of stay
191.3 days - average length of stay
86 placements in stable housing
$15,000 average cost per door
Safe Parking
INTERAGENCY PARTNERS, CONT.
LifeMoves Moun tain View
Stable housing indicates that these
households may have reunited with family,
signed leases (market rate, below market
rate, or with time-limited rent subsidies),
or otherwise exited to a place meant for
human habitation.
Based on the LifeMoves
MV FY 2022-23 funding
amount of $1.5M.
Utilization is
calculated as total
days enrolled
divided by
cumulative
capacity.
Average length of
stay is calculated
by the number of
days enrolled in the
program. This is
based on a client’s
start and end date
with the program.
Includes a rental unit with no ongoing
housing subsidy, a tenant or project-
based Housing Choice Voucher, Rapid
Rehousing or equivalent subsidy, or
other ongoing housing subsidy;
permanent tenure by staying or living
with family; and a unit owned by the
client with no ongoing housing subsidy.
Based on MOVE
Mountain View’s
FY 2022-23
service cost.
8 $1 Million
The average amount the City of Mountain has invested every year since 2016. $26.9 Million
Generated in State grants
and philanthropic private
donations
$16 Million
Secured through leveraging
partnerships with County
of Santa Clara
$5.1 Million
Invested in programs
related to COVID-19
response
$129.8 Million
Invested in funding
affordable housing
Alta Housing
Bill Wilson Center
Cafecito
Community Health
Awareness Council
Community Services
Agency
COVID-19
Community-Based
Organization Team
Day Worker Center
MV
Destination: Home
Dignity on Wheels
HomeFirst
Hope’s Corner
Human Relations
Commission
LifeMoves MV
Live Nation
Los Altos Mountain View
School District –
McKinney Vento
representatives
Los Atos United
Methodist Church
Momentum for Health
TRUST Program
Mountain View Whisman
School District -
McKinney Vento
representatives
MOVE MV
New Directions - A
program of Peninsula-
Healthcare Connections
Reach Silicon Valley
Santa Clara County
Housing Authority
Office of Supportive
Housing
Valley Homeless
Healthcare Program
Second Harvest of Silicon Valley
St. Athanasius food distribution
program
STAND 4 INC.
The Hope Hangar
The United Effort Organization
Trinity United Methodist
Church
YMCA of Silicon Valley El
Camino & Sequoia Branch
INVESTMENT IN HOMELESSNESS
SOLUTIONS
The funding is from several sources, including the General Housing Fund, which also includes a portion of a grant from Destination: Home and Limited-Period Funds.
The City of Mountain View would like to acknowledge and thank the following partnerships and agencies that are essential to our success across the homeless services continuum:
THANK YOU!
Reducing the number of individuals and families without a home requires multi-agency and interdepartmental coordination, regional collaboration, and a long-term focus. The investment by the City and the City’s partners to address homelessness is summarized below.
Programs that respond to the crisis of homelessness, providing immediate shelter from the elements, access to meals, and connections to services and resources.
Programs to stop homelessness before it starts by providing financial assistance and services to prevent families and individuals from losing their housing. Assistance may be one-time or for a short period. Supportive services may be provided in addition to financial assistance, or households might be connected to other resources in the community. (e.g., Rent Relief).
A federally-funded rental assistance program that helps eligible individuals and families pay for housing.
A Short-term, dignified environment where community members can be housed and supported with services and case management. (e.g., LifeMoves MV).
The County of Santa Clara also uses the term "Transitional Housing", which are programs that provide temporary housing (usually no more than two years) with attached services focused on helping people prepare to obtain housing upon program exit. Units can be anything from an enclosed cubicle with reserved bed at a shelter facility to an apartment in the community.
The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act of 1987 (McKinney- Vento) is a federal law created to support the enrollment and education of homeless students. It is intended to provide homeless students the same educational opportunities as housed students by removing as many barriers to learning for homeless students as possible. The Act requires schools to identify and count students experiencing homelessness as defined by the U.S. Department of Education.
Community-based housing without a designated length of stay, and includes both permanent supportive housing and rapid re-housing.* Designed for chronically homeless and other highly vulnerable individuals and families who need long-term support to stay housed.
Provides short-term financial assistance and support (four to six months, on average) to quickly rehouse homeless households in their own independent permanent housing.
Provides a temporary, safe location to park for individuals and families living in a vehicle, while providing access to services that will transition them into more stable housing.
GLOSSARY
Emergency Shelter
Homeless Prevention
Housing Choice
Voucher
Interim Housing
McKinney-Vento
Permanent
Supportive Housing
Rapid Rehousing
Safe Parking
Parneet Dhindsa, Human Services Manager
[email protected]
CONTACT