City Council
Staff Report
From: City Manager
Report Type: STUDY SESSION
Lead Department: City Manager
Meeting Date: April 20, 2026
Report #:2601-5875
TITLE
Discussion of the Draft 2026-2030 Santa Clara County Community Plan to End Homelessness; CEQA Status—Not a project.
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends that City Council discuss and provide feedback to County representatives on the Draft 2026-2030 Santa Clara County Community Plan to End Homelessness.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This transmits and provides a forum for Santa Clara County (County) staff to discuss and receive feedback from Council on the Draft 2026-2030 Santa Clara County Community Plan to End Homelessness. County staff will be at the April 20, 2026 Council meeting to present information and discuss the Draft Plan with the Council. Ultimately, once the County has completed outreach and finalized the Draft Plan, staff and the County anticipate the final plan to come back to the Council for review and endorsement. For the past five years, the City has aligned its work relating to homelessness and stability to the County’s 2020-2025 Community Plan to End Homelessness goals addressing the root causes of homelessness, improving the quality of life for unsheltered individuals, and creating healthy neighborhoods for all, and expanding homelessness prevention and housing programs to meet demand. The 2020-2025 Plan achieved its goal of 20,830 people housed and made significant progress on a variety of fronts, including a 19 percent decrease in new households becoming homeless.1 The new proposed draft 2026-2030 Plan contains focus areas to reduce inflow into homelessness, help people to get and stay housed, strengthen access to care and services for people experiencing unsheltered homelessness, and center people with lived experience to lead and transform the homeless system. Similar to the 2020-2025 Plan, much of current City policy and work relating to homelessness and housing stability also aligns with the new draft Plan. 1 2020-2025 Community Plan to End Homelessness Final Progress Report, communityplan-2025-final-progress- report.
This staff report summarizes County data related to homelessness among people affiliated with Palo Alto to help provide a shared fact base and support Council discussion and feedback on the new draft Plan.
BACKGROUND
In August 2021, Council endorsed the Santa Clara County Community Plan to End Homelessness 2020-2025.3 Over the Plan’s five-year time period, the City of Palo Alto engaged in a variety of efforts supporting the Plan’s strategies,4 including:
1. Addressing the root causes of homelessness through system and policy changes through renter protections and anti-displacement provisions;
2. Improving the quality of life for unsheltered individuals and creating healthy neighborhoods for all through piloting and then making permanent its safe parking ordinance and expanding safe parking capacity, constructing an interim housing shelter, piloting a homeless outreach team, and financially supporting a variety of services through the Human Services Resource Allocation Process (HSRAP); and
3. Expanding homelessness prevention and housing programs with $57 million in contributions to affordable housing construction in Palo Alto.5 At the close of the 2020-2025 Plan, the County reported results countywide, with achievements including,
20,830 people housed (goal was 20,000), consisting of 47 percent chronically homeless and 26 percent families with children,
27,037 people placed in temporary housing and shelter, 38,060 people received homelessness prevention assistance, with 93 percent of families remaining stably housed while receiving services, 19 percent decrease in new households becoming homeless, 82 percent increase in temporary housing and shelter capacity, consisting of 1,533 shelter units, 1,190 interim housing units, 365 other transitional housing programs, and 332 safe parking spaces, and
56 deeply affordable and supportive housing developments equaling more than 6,500 homes open, under construction, or in the pipeline.
3 City Council Staff Report, August 8, 2021, https://www.cityofpaloalto.org/files/assets/public/v/1/agendas- minutes-reports/reports/city-manager-reports-cmrs/year-archive/2021/id-13453.pdf. 4 City Council Staff Report, February 10, 2025,
https://cityofpaloalto.primegov.com/meetings/ItemWithTemplateType?id=6751&meetingTemplateType=2&comp iledMeetingDocumentId=13091 .
5 City Council Staff Presentation, August 25, 2025,
https://cityofpaloalto.primegov.com/api/compilemeetingattachmenthistory/historyattachment/?historyId=13976 d90-1d8c-42c7-988f-e84d17a90ad0.
Going forward, the new draft Plan9 was built over several months of stakeholder engagement and in consultation with community members, service providers, people with lived experience, and staff from different jurisdictions within the County. The draft Plan identifies the following four focus areas, each accompanied by three strategies, emphasizing capacity and access, service delivery, and system coordination:
Focus Area 1 — Prevent people from becoming homeless
oStrategy A – Expand programs and investments to prevent people from becoming homeless
oStrategy B – Ensure services are effective to prevent people from becoming homeless
oStrategy C – Enhance coordination across systems to prevent people from becoming homeless
Focus Area 2 — Continue to house people and support them in retaining their housing oStrategy A – Increase and maintain a continuum of housing options that meets the need
oStrategy B – Increase consistency, diversity, and quality of housing and services for people accessing the housing continuum
oStrategy C – Improve system coordination throughout the housing continuum Focus Area 3 — Strengthen access to care and services for people experiencing unsheltered homelessness
oStrategy A – Build capacity and expand access to trusted, culturally responsive, and coordinated services and resources throughout Santa Clara County oStrategy B – Increase consistency, variety, and quality of outreach, basic, and essential needs services
oStrategy C – Invest in approaches that improve outcomes and reduce harm for people living unsheltered and the community at-large
Focus Area 4 — Center and invest in people with lived experience to lead and transform the homeless system
oStrategy A – Expand the representation of people with lived experience in leadership roles and decision-making bodies
oStrategy B – Build leadership capacity and advancement pathways for people with lived experience
oStrategy C – Equip homeless system partners to effectively partner with people with lived experience
9 See Attachment A: Santa Clara County Draft Plan to End Homelessness, https://url.usb.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/KAYACoABY2cDNOnGH1fzSpUmsx?domain=osh.santaclaracounty.gov
ANALYSIS
To best discuss the new draft Plan, it’s helpful to understand the current flow of Palo Alto- affiliated people11 into and out of homelessness, as well as how the City’s current efforts align with the draft Plan’s focus areas and strategies.
The following summarizes County data related to homelessness among people affiliated with Palo Alto, drawing on the January 2025 Point-in-Time (PIT) Count12 and the Santa Clara County Office of Supportive Housing (OSH) Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) data for Calendar Year (CY) 202513.
The data reflect two core realities:
Homelessness in Palo Alto, particularly unsheltered homelessness, remains a serious challenge.
The January 2025 PIT count identified 418 individuals experiencing homelessness in Palo Alto, including 399 individuals (95%) who were unsheltered. People who are sheltered and experiencing homelessness include those in emergency shelters, transitional housing, or safe havens. Those who are unsheltered are living in places not designed for habitation, such as outdoors, vehicles, streets, parks or abandoned buildings. Palo Alto’s unsheltered proportion is higher than the countywide average, which makes sense given system constraints previously identified in the City’s Housing and Unhoused Services Gap Analysis (e.g., limited interim shelter capacity and housing supply).
Palo Alto’s response is active, coordinated, and service-provider driven.
In partnership with Santa Clara County and a network of nonprofit and healthcare providers, Palo Alto supports outreach, stabilization, interim pathways, housing problem-solving, housing navigation, and supportive services. OSH/HMIS data indicates substantial service activity across programs during CY2025, reflecting both ongoing need and significant partner work.
Key CY2025 HMIS data findings include:
Coordinated Entry Inflow: 297 Palo Alto–affiliated households completed coordinated entry assessments, a consistent, community-wide intake process used to match people to appropriate resources14.
11 For purposes of this staff report, “Palo Alto–affiliated” refers to households identified in OSH/HMIS jurisdiction- level reporting as having a connection to Palo Alto (commonly based on information collected during system engagement, such as self-reported connection and/or service location). 12 County of Santa Clara, Office of Supportive Housing (OSH), “Point-in-Time Count,” https://osh.santaclaracounty.gov/data-and-reports/point-time-count, accessed March 6, 2026. 13 Santa Clara County Office of Supportive Housing (OSH), HMIS jurisdiction-level reporting for Palo Alto (Calendar Year 2025). Source file provided to the City, see Attachment B: Santa Clara County Office of Supportive Housing – Calendar Year 2025 Report (Palo Alto).
14 County of Santa Clara, Office of Supportive Housing (OSH), “Glossary of terms,” https://osh.santaclaracounty.gov/glossary-terms , accessed March 6, 2026. Housing Requests and Placements: 154 Palo Alto–affiliated households requested housing assistance, and 71 households were placed into permanent housing.
Placements occur through the countywide system and may be located outside Palo Alto. Service Utilization: Demand remains high across outreach, interim/shelter pathways, housing programs, and service-only supports.
Please note, PIT data are reported as individuals (persons), while coordinated entry and HMIS measures are often reported as households; these measures are not directly comparable. In HMIS reporting, households may also appear in multiple categories19 based on service needs and enrollment during the year20.
System Inflow and Housing Outcomes (CY2025)
Santa Clara County’s Office of Supportive Housing administers the countywide homelessness response system, including coordinated entry, housing placement, and service tracking through the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS). Households experiencing homelessness are assessed using the Vulnerability Index–Service Prioritization Decision Assistance Tool (VI-SPDAT), which helps prioritize households for available housing resources.
HMIS data reflects participating providers and programs; some services may be underrepresented if they are not entered in HMIS. The following information is derived from HMIS and reflects system activity across CY202521.
Coordinated Entry inflow provides an indicator of the scale of household need entering (or re- entering) the homelessness response system. In CY2025, 154 Palo Alto–affiliated households completed first time coordinated entry assessments, compared to 126 in CY2024. With a high unsheltered rate, it is important for Palo Alto to focus on prevention (e.g., helping people to stay housed) to reduce the overall inflow, problem-solving through interim pathways (e.g., identifying and connecting to appropriate shelter or resources) to decrease the percent who are unsheltered, and placement (i.e., into permanent housing) to improve outflow.
Housing requests and placements reflect movement through the County’s coordinated housing system. In CY2025, 154 Palo Alto–affiliated households requested housing assistance and 71 households were placed into permanent housing (countywide: 3,858 requests and 2,012 placements). Because placements occur through the countywide system, housing may be located outside Palo Alto; destination geography is not consistently available in the dataset 5The "breakdown of services" refers to the detailed, client-level tracking of specific assistance provided to individuals or households experiencing or at risk of homelessness. This data is categorized to track service use patterns, measure program effectiveness, and ensure that federal, state, and local funding is accurately reported.
Uplift is a specific services related to bus passes.
21 County of Santa Clara, Office of Supportive Housing (OSH), “Glossary of terms,” accessed March 6, 2026. used for this summary25. For those experiencing homelessness, placement outcomes are one of the primary pathways to reducing unsheltered exposure and associated harms. Additionally, increasing the pace of stabilization and housing pathways supports improved conditions in public-facing areas over time.
Program Participation — Palo Alto–Affiliated Households (CY2025) CY2025 service participation, as shown in HMIS, indicates continued demand and substantial provider activity. Households may appear in multiple categories based on needs and enrollment during the year26.
Permanent Supportive Housing 27: 219 households enrolled (214 housed) Rapid Rehousing 28: 74 enrolled (57 housed)
Emergency Housing Voucher Program: 26 enrolled (26 housed) Emergency Shelter 29: 272 served
Transitional Housing 30: 16 served
Safe Parking: 72 served
Street Outreach: 187 served
Housing Problem Solving 31: 203 served
Services Only (incl. UPLIFT) 32: 563 served
Homelessness Prevention: 29 served
25 Santa Clara County Office of Supportive Housing (OSH), HMIS jurisdiction-level reporting for Palo Alto (Calendar Year 2025). Source file provided to the City and attached to this staff report packet: City_of_Palo_Alto_Report_OSH_CY2025.xlsx.
26 Santa Clara County Office of Supportive Housing (OSH), HMIS jurisdiction-level reporting for Palo Alto (Calendar Year 2025). Source file provided to the City and attached to this staff report packet:
City_of_Palo_Alto_Report_OSH_CY2025.xlsx.
27 Housing target towards chronically homeless individuals and families, providing a rental subsidy, intensive case management, and health care. https://osh.santaclaracounty.gov/glossary-terms 28 An intervention to help individuals or families quickly exit homelessness, consisting of identifying housing, providing a modest/declining/temporary rent subsidy, and time-limited case management. 29 Temporary shelter provided for a specific time period only (e.g., 90 days). 30 Temporary supportive housing, typically provided for a limited time (e.g., 2 weeks to 2 years). 31 A Santa Clara County program to help households identify choices and solutions to end their housing crisis (i.e., prevent homelessness or achieve housing stability).
https://files.santaclaracounty.gov/exjcpb1571/migrated/SCC%20CoC%20- %20Housing%20Problem%20Solving%20Guidelines%20062821.pdf 32The Office of Supportive Housing defines support services as targeted, often individualized, assistance designed to help people experiencing homelessness or housing instability obtain permanent housing, retain their tenancy, and improve their stability. These services encompass housing navigation, case management, health services, and life skills training tailored to specific needs. UPLIFT refers to a service that provides bus passes to unhoused individuals.
These numbers, especially the high “services-only” and outreach counts, may suggest a sustained need for engagement and stabilization while households navigate limited interim and permanent housing supply. Another takeaway from this data, is that the breadth of outreach and supportive service participation reflects ongoing harm-reduction, health connection, and crisis-prevention work that supports safer outcomes for vulnerable residents. Additionally, consistent outreach and pathways to housing stability help address impacts in high-use public areas by connecting people to services and reducing the duration/intensity of unsheltered episodes.
Past and Current City Efforts and Alignment with Draft Plan As demonstrated in the table below, the City’s current efforts and policies align with draft Plan focus areas connected to homelessness prevention, the housing continuum, and services.
Focus Area 1 – Prevent people from becoming homeless
Effort Description
Mediation services Contracted with Project Sentinel to provide information, counseling, conciliation, and mediation support
services for dispute resolution in rental housing,
neighborhood, consumers, workplace, person to
person, or community disputes for the Palo Alto Mediation Program (PAMP) and provides
the same services for the City of Palo Alto Mandatory
Response Program (PAMC Chapter 9.72)41.
Fair Housing Awarded Project Sentinel $22,000 (CDBG) to provide fair housing services, including complaint investigation,
counseling, advocacy and community education.
Rental housing stabilization
requirements
Established a variety of rental housing stabilization
requirements, including:
Requirement to offer a 1-year lease at lease renewal
for covered units (PAMC Section 9.68.030)
Just cause eviction protections that are applicable to more units than protections required by State law
(PAMC Section 9.68.040)
Tenant Relocation Assistance for no-fault evictions for covered units at rates equal to or likely exceeding
assistance levels required by State law (PAMC Section
9.68.050; PAMC Section 9.68.060)
Renter’s remedies if there is noncompliance with
housing rental housing stabilization requirements
(PAMC Section 9.68.080)
41 https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/paloalto/latest/paloalto_ca/0-0-0-66860 Focus Area 2 – Continue to house people and support them in retaining their housing Housing Services Awarded Alta Housing $87,756 (HSRAP) for enhanced housing services including youth enrichment,
community-building, and economic stability services
to low-income youth and families residing in Alta
Housing communities.
Awarded Silicon Valley Independent Living Center
$20,067 (CDBG) to provide case management services
to low-income individuals with disabilities to secure
affordable and accessible housing.
Awarded LifeMoves $39,154 (CDBG) to provide
housing navigation, benefits counseling and broader
case management services to clients at the
Opportunity Center.
Food security Awarded $10,000 (Emerging Needs grant) to Alta Housing to expand its food security initiative.
Below Market Rate Housing
Program
Contracted with Alta Housing to administer the City’s Below Market Rate (BMR) program designed to expand access to
affordable ownership and rental housing by requiring or facilitating the creation of deed-restricted units for low- and moderate-income households.
Focus Area 3 – Strengthen access to care and services for people experiencing unsheltered homelessness
Overnight warming location
(OWL)
Awarded $113,166 (HSRAP) to Heart and Home Collaborative for Overnight Warming location for unhoused individuals, and $10,000 (Emerging Needs grant) to lengthen the opening dates of the cold weather shelter season.
Outreach services to RV
dwellers
Awarded $70,360.00 to Karat School Project for outreach services to the RV Dweller community in Palo Alto.
Food security Awarded $94,174.00 to LifeMoves to reduce food insecurity for unhoused individuals by providing breakfast and lunch Monday-Friday.
Outreach & street medicine Awarded $241,422 (HSRAP) to Peninsula Healthcare Connections for outreach service, mental health support and street medicine for low income and unhoused individuals, along with operation of Palo Alto Food Closet.
Healthcare services Awarded $135,374 (HSRAP) to Ravenswood Family Health Network for healthcare services for low income and
unhoused Palo Altans and $10,000 (Emerging Needs grant) to update its Optometry care for higher quality of care to low- income and unhoused clients.
Miscellaneous services for
the unhoused
Awarded $735 (mini grant) for various services for the
unhoused including (car repair, storage fees, and dental etc.) Safe Parking Program Funded $447,849 to expand safe parking operations at 2000 Geng Road, adding 10 oversized vehicle spaces
After receiving comments and feedback from Council at the study session, the County will continue to gather feedback from the community, including at an April 30th event at Mitchell Park, before bringing the final Plan to the County Board of Supervisors in late summer/early fall.
Following Board approval, staff will work with the County to bring the final plan back to Council for review and endorsement. For a more detailed timeline, please see Attachment C: Santa Clara County Community Plan timeline.
FISCAL/RESOURCE IMPACT
This report is informational and has no direct fiscal impact. However, the data informs future resource allocation, program planning, and service capacity needs.
STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT
The City meets with the County monthly on topics relating to supportive housing, including the draft Plan. In addition to a variety of interviews, focus groups and steering committee meetings held since spring 2025 throughout Santa Clara County, there was also a north-county specific focus group held in Palo Alto focused on people with lived experience. As mentioned earlier in the report, there is an additional community engagement opportunity in Palo Alto on April 30, from 6-8 pm at Mitchell Park in the El Palo Alto room.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
This item is not a project as defined by the California Environmental Quality Act because is a study session with no action required by the Council.
ATTACHMENTS
Attachment A: Santa Clara County Draft Community Plan to End Homelessness Attachment B: Santa Clara County Office of Supportive Housing Calendar Year 2025 Report (Palo Alto)
Attachment C: Santa Clara County Community Plan Timeline APPROVED BY:
Ed Shikada, City Manager