Letter from SVCN to CSJ re Item 2.18, December 15, 2025
December 15, 2025
San Jose City Council
City of San Jose
200 East Santa Clara Street
San Jose, CA 95113
Sent via electronic mail
Re: Item 2.18, Actions Related to Grant Agreements for Multiple Emergency Interim Housing Program Sites
Dear Mayor Mahan, Vice Mayor Foley, Members of the City Council and the City Manager,
We appreciate the thoughtful recommendations put forward in both the memorandum submitted by Councilmember Campos and the joint memorandum from Mayor Mahan, Vice Mayor Foley, and Councilmembers Cohen, Mulcahy, and Casey. Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits (SVCN) supports the shared goal of increasing transparency, accountability, and learning across the City’s Emergency Interim Housing (EIH) system.
We are particularly encouraged by Recommendation #4 in the joint memorandum, which calls for engaging people with lived experience to inform the City’s work. Meaningful and well-designed engagement with individuals who have experienced homelessness is essential to continuous improvement, effective service design, and equitable outcomes across the shelter system.
We also support Councilmember Campos’ recommendation to include demographic information in the real-time dashboard. Disaggregated demographic data is critical to understanding whether the City’s significant investments in interim housing are producing equitable outcomes and to identifying disparities that may require targeted policy or programmatic responses.
Letter from SVCN to CSJ re Item 2.18, December 15, 2025
With respect to the performance metrics outlined in the joint memorandum, SVCN encourages the City to ensure that contextual factors influencing exits to permanent or affordable housing are also captured and communicated. In particular, the availability—or lack—of affordable housing units, permanent supportive housing placements, and rental subsidies can significantly shape exit outcomes and timelines. Including these system-level constraints will help ensure that the dashboard accurately reflects both provider performance and broader housing market realities.
As a representative of more than 170 nonprofit organizations across Santa Clara County, SVCN urges the City to ensure that accountability frameworks apply equitably across City departments and contracted nonprofit providers. No single entity should be held solely responsible for outcomes that depend on shared systems, interdepartmental and intergovernmental coordination, housing availability, and broader structural drivers of homelessness, including rising rents, loss of deeply affordable housing, lack of living-wage jobs, high costs of living in the region, and gaps in support systems. The success of the Emergency Interim Housing network depends on effective collaboration across City departments, County systems, and nonprofit partners.
As the City advances these transparency and reporting efforts, data collection requirements should be aligned with existing HMIS and contractual reporting systems wherever possible to avoid duplication and unnecessary administrative burden on service providers. Thoughtful alignment will help ensure that staff capacity remains focused on service delivery and client outcomes rather than parallel compliance processes.
We respectfully encourage the City Council to adopt the recommendations in both memoranda and to ensure that the resulting data, metrics, and accountability structures are implemented in ways that support collaboration, equity, and continuous improvement across the EIH system.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Shannon Zhang
Policy + Advocacy Associate
Letter from SVCN to CSJ re Item 2.18, December 15, 2025
About SVCN
Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits (SVCN) advances the role, voice, and capacity of the nonprofit community in Santa Clara County, driving positive social change and fostering equitable, vibrant, and thriving communities. SVCN is committed to being a change agent and a model of possibility by centering racial justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion in everything we do, both internally and externally. A key strategic priority is to support the nonprofit ecosystem by serving as a trusted source and hub of information, resources, and connections for Silicon Valley nonprofits, facilitating collaboration and collective impact. We also leverage our power, position, and access to partner with, amplify, and support the community, influencing decision-makers to address the biggest challenges facing nonprofits and the communities they serve. SVCN’s nonprofit membership is 170+ strong.