“ We have never had a governor particularly animated by homelessness … It ’ s a crisis .”

— Gavin Newsom , Lieutenant Governor of California

According to Santa Clara County ’ s 2017 Homeless Census and Survey , nearly 7,400 of our inhabitants are homeless . That ’ s up from 6,556 homeless reported in 2015 . Among them , 74 percent are unsheltered , including roughly 900 people in South County .

It might seem like we haven ’ t moved the needle on this issue until you consider that in two years , the public-private partnership known as Destination : Home has helped place 5,154 people in housing , 94 percent of whom stayed housed . Its homelessness prevention system is proving that , given housing and social service support , people can get healthy , find work , and live happy , productive lives in their communities .

South County is fortunate to have some very smart people working to end homelessness with this same philosophy in mind . They know the circumstances that lead to each person ’ s homelessness are as unique and varied as their challenges in making the transition to stable housing and restoration .

We can and we must continue to raise millions of dollars and design collaborative , farreaching programs , but understanding and helping the homeless , as unique individuals , is how we move the needle .

Gina is married and has four children between the ages of 4 and 12 . Not long ago , Gina and her husband suffered a major setback when his employer of more than 15 years said he would no longer be needed . Meanwhile , the owner of the place they were renting decided to put his property up for sale so they had to move out . What landlord would even look at a rental application from an unemployed man with a wife and four kids ?

For a few months they stayed at her mother ’ s , but she was living on a fixed income and the landlord wasn ’ t willing to have extra non-paying tenants . Gina ’ s husband hadn ’ t found a new job . Panicked , they checked into a hotel where they stayed for a few months until their savings ran out .

“ The next thing I knew we were on the street with nowhere to go ,” Gina said . “ We went to a community park hoping to sleep there . I tried to act cheerful when I told the kids , ‘ Hey , we ’ re going camping !’ They didn ’ t know what to think . There wasn ’ t enough money for food and we had nowhere to shower or wash our clothes . My husband and I were ashamed and didn ’ t want to tell anyone we were homeless .”

When Gina ’ s brother found out their secret , he asked if it was okay to help . He introduced Gina to a local social services case manager he knew , and things took a turn for the better . Gina ’ s family became one of the first to benefit from a small pilot program in Morgan Hill called FOCUS Safe Parking .

“ The case manager helped us get into the program . The people running it helped us find a car . They saw our need and helped us out with groceries and gas money . It gave us comfort to know our family was safe there .”

Gina ’ s husband soon found work . The case manager spoke with the property manager of a nearby apartment building and helped with the deposit and first month ’ s rent so Gina and her family could move into one of the units before school started up again . Volunteers and partners of the Safe Parking program provided some furniture to help them settle in . Now she ’ s eligible to go every two weeks to get a food box packed with healthy food for her kids .

“ We had our ups and downs . It was stressful on our marriage and hard to see the kids suffer when we had nowhere to go , but we came through it together and now we ’ re in a more stable situation .”

Just as we were wrapping up our conversation , Gina ’ s youngest son ran up to show me his toy . He didn ’ t notice as his mother wiped the tears from her face , looked at me , and quietly said , “ I am so thankful for where we are today .”

GILROY • MORGAN HILL • SAN MARTIN JUNE / JULY 2018 gmhtoday . com

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