Homelessness in Silicon Valley MUSICAL CHAIRS
by Annie Hua
People all around the world experience homelessness, unfortunately, especially in the US with California in the lead. The Public Policy Institute of California found that “as of 2022, 30% of all people in the United States experiencing homelessness resided in California.” Ironically, in the most privileged places we can see the most impoverished. In a place like Silicon Valley where living costs are pricey, it is incredibly difficult to find financial stability, resulting in higher concentrations of the homeless population in urban areas. Society incriminates the homeless and stigmatizes them as “bad people”, where in reality, it’s us– we’re the problem. The anti-homeless stigma circulates around society which fuels more negativity in the government’s attitude towards homelessness. Anti-homeless infrastructure and policies have been on a rise, and our tax dollars are funding them. The National Homelessness Law Center reports that “[anti-homeless] laws in 187 cities and city-wide bans on camping have increased by 92%... [and] a 1,300% growth of homeless encampments have been reported in all 50 states.” However, many people think that reallocating funding to rehabilitating the homeless would prove to be useless. Many believe that the unhoused dealing with drug abuse will only return back to their bad habits. What can we do to change? Is eradicating homelessness possible?
HOMELESSNESS IN SILICON VALLEY AND WHY
In Silicon Valley alone, we see a disproportionate amount of homeless compared to other urban areas. Sarah Gonzalez, the Case
Manager at LifeMoves* homeless shelter, says, “what I’ve seen here [at LifeMoves] is mostly a lot of females, a lot of families, single parents, a lot of people who are elderly as well.” Why is it that Silicon Valley sees more of these types of people?
While there are countless factors, we can boil it down to the lack of affordable housing and the absence of government aid. The lack of affordable housing is a common problem for many places with a high number of unsheltered people, however Silicon Valley’s housing market only exacerbates the problem. The market is outrageous, with an average single family residence costing a staggering 1.97 million dollars (Pope-Handy 21). The article “The Obvious Answer to Homelessness’’ by Jerusalem Demsas discusses the main factors of homelessness. Demsas acknowledges that many unhoused people may be a result of their lack of competency for the modern world, poor decisions, or disabilities, but pushes the idea that homelessness is mainly caused by lack of housing.
Above, A homeless man sleeping on an anti-homeless bench, the arm-rests are purposely too close together for comfort. * LifeMoves is a homeless shelter that has multiple locations, including some in Silicon Valley.She explains, “some who study this issue use the analogy of children playing musical chairs” (Demsas). By referring to people as children in need of housing and chairs as houses, Demsas calls attention to the unfair nature of the game. However, rather than it being a physical disadvantage that leaves kids behind, it was technically always because they had a lack of chairs. All of the children fought for those chairs, but because there wasn’t enough in the first place, some were left behind. Demsas claims this is the same case for homelessness. We can apply Demsas’s analogy to homelessness in Silicon Valley too. Since there is a lack of affordable housing, those at a financial disadvantage cannot compete with those more fortunate than them.
ACCESSIBILITY AND REAL AFFORDABILITY
If 10-14% of houses are vacant in Silicon Valley, why are there still homeless people on the streets? For example, “more than 15,500 units remain vacant in Oakland alone, according to the latest US Census Bureau data, while 4,071 people are homeless” (Ho 20). Maria Marroquin, the Executive Director for the Day Workers’ Center of Mountain View, works to help unsheltered and/or jobless people secure financial stability and housing. Marroquin stated that those in unstable financial situations are incomparable to those better off when it comes to buying a house/presenting an offer. She explained, even when it comes to the smaller things such as presenting themselves to the seller, people in worse circumstances may not be able to dress as
well as their competition, communicate effectively due to a lack of access to social media, or even meet the seller on time due to the lack of an accessible personal vehicle. All these factors and more contribute to homelessness. Marroquin added that many homes and apartments need the buyer to meet certain requirements, such as having a certain minimum income. For example, “For the San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley metro, buyers need to make at least $250,000 a year to afford a median single-family home price of $1.4 million, a 20% salary increase. The median annual household income in the city of San Francisco was about $119,000 in 2020” (Varian 22). Where the federal government defines a house as affordable if it consumes 30% or less of a household’s income, it is essentially impossible for a homeless person to buy a socalled “affordable house” (Local Housing Solutions 22). This cookie-cutter definition of affordable housing is applied to everyone. The unhoused typically live off around $35,000-$50,000 per year on average (Father Joe’s Village 22). In extreme cases, “70 percent of the lowest-income households (those with less than about $15,000 in annual income) are severely cost burdened” (Local Housing Solutions 22). Thus, not only does housing need to be equally accessible, but also realistically priced for someone with little to no income.
HOW REHOMING REALLY WORKS
Although housing a homeless person is easier said than done, it is neither a difficult nor costly process. The National Alliance to End Homelessness employs a process called Rapid Rehoming, or RRH. RRH has three main components: housing identification, rent and move-in assistance, and case management. Preparing affordable housing units starts with building relationships and trust with landlords, ideally those with as many vacant housing units as possible.
Programs for rehousing the homeless should prepare these units in advance. Then comes rent
The problem is, if there are enough chairs for all the kids, why can’t each kid find a seat?
and move-in assistance, where programs work with individuals who have identified a suitable housing unit to secure financial stability. Flexibility is key; this should not be a onesize-fits-all “package” deal, for every individual has different needs. Lastly, case management is where programs help individuals navigate around barriers to housing, such as healthcare, employment, child care, education, etc. These three steps are important but not all of them are always necessary for each person. Gonzales found that housing the homeless is very fruitful. She described a story of working with a client; “I think one of my I was working with a client who was pretty much kind of neglecting their overall health… And because of the trust that I built with him, he was able to go to his doctor to get his health fixed and so forth. And through this, he was able to get help, and even now he reaches out here and there and says how grateful and thankful he is that that was really there for him in that moment.”
STIGMATIZATION AND CRIMINALIZATION
Anti-homeless policies have increased in many urban areas. This harms the homeless population by criminalizing them and putting them through legal court, which places more financial burdens on their shoulders. These policies also feed the stigma that homeless people are bad people, “druggies”, and mentally ill. This cycle of promoting anti-homeless ideas leads people to believe that redirect- ing funding to help the homeless find shelter and rehabilitation would be useless. Many think that homeless people will only revert back to drug abuse and lose their homes after they are assisted. However, an arti- cle from San Jose Spotlight on the homeless crisis finds, “In 2015, her* team
worked with 400 unhoused people with significant substance use and mental health problems, and helped 91% of them move into permanent supportive housing. After seven years, 93% of those who got into housing continued to stay housed” (Nguyen). Therefore we can conclude that not only is sheltering the homeless highly successful, but also effective in the long run. Marroquin elaborated on the humanity behind this topic.
Ending homelessness is difficult, but not impossible. Luckily, Destination Homes has identified their own strategy to end homelessness in Santa Clara County and has made significant progress. They define their approach with 3 parts:
1. Address the Root Causes of Homelessness Through System and Policy Change
2. Expand Homelessness Prevention and Housing Programs to Meet the Need
3. Improve Quality of Life for Unsheltered Individuals and Create Healthy Neighborhoods for All.
A big part of ending homelessness is taking preventative care. We must eliminate policies that push people into homelessness– this includes a multitude of actions. Destination Homes takes
* Margot Kushe is the executive director of the U.S. Interagency Council on HomelessnessShe said, “Drug abuse is a symptom, not a cause. [When] You bring the opportunity to make people happy, to make people have dreams, to improve themselves, [there is] no need to give back to the addiction.”
THE SOLUTION TO HOMELESSNESS IN SV
precautions by helping vulnerable people access safety net services and prevent those with criminal records end up unhoused. Residents at close risk of displacement and eviction are protected through adopting new local rent/ tenant policies, legal assistance, and funding. Additionally, Destination Homes ensures that residents make a living wage by supporting efforts to increase the minimum wage, partnering with corporations to create more living wage jobs, and training such residents to manage their finances. As musical chairs highlight the lack of affordable housing, Destination Homes works with local governments to create more housing for extremely low-income individuals. They also employ the Rapid Rehousing program, which, as of 2020, housed “10,000 people...through Rapid Rehousing programs that provide short- and medium-term support” (Destination Homes, 15). Currently, their “system serves about 1,700 households per year through Rapid Rehousing, of which roughly 72% are able to successfully maintain stable housing upon exiting the program” (Destination Homes). In order to care for the currently unsheltered community, Destination Homes is working to double the number of temporary housing beds and increase mental health/substance abuse services, as well as access to other amenities. This improves their quality of life which leads to healthier neighborhoods and a more positive image of the homeless community. Lastly, Destination Homes aims to create communal safe-spaces where housed and unhoused residents can communicate and work together to build a better future.
CURRENT PROGRESS IN SILICON VALLEY
Destination Homes has taken big strides in battling Silicon Valley’s homeless crisis. They have set a goal that by 2025, starting back in 2019, they will have 20,000 people housed and a 30% reduction in new households becoming homeless. So far, 9,645 people have been housed through their program, which means Destination Homes is 48% to their 2025 goal. In addition, there is currently a 27% reduction in new households falling into homelessness, which is only 3% away from their 2025
goal. Throughout 2016-2019, each year 92-96% of people have remained stably housed for at least 12 months (Destination Homes Community Plan). Over 23,000 people have received Homelessness Prevention Assistance and upwards of 15,000 have been placed in temporary housing through Destination Home. Destination Homes is only one of many programs in Silicon Valley fighting the housing crisis.
DO YOUR PART
Destination Homes and other homeless crisis programs cannot do it by themselves. Everyone needs to work together to help raise awareness and provide for our unsheltered community. You can spark change by participating in campaigns that increase awareness of homelessness and efforts to end homelessness. Donating at your local drive, whether it be old clothes or canned food, can make a big difference.
Volunteering at a local homeless shelter can make a huge impact too, one small step at a time.
If not, changing your mindset towards the less fortunate can make a world of difference.
As Sarah Gonzales says,
“In the end, you know, they are us. They are people too.”
Above, Anti-homeless design in San Fransisco, the uneven surfaces prevent the homeless from sleeping.