Sidebar: Homelessness can be solved when society gets over the stigma
Passage of Measure A in 2016 is starting to show positive results
By Marty Cheek
Experts say that the solution to homelessness lies in creating a system of permanent housing. When the Measure A bond passed in 2016, Santa Clara County voters took a chance at providing the funding for this solution — and it’s starting to show positive results in helping thousands of local men, women and children gain a better quality of life.
“When a new apartment affordable housing unit goes up, people who are homeless get off the street and they’re stably housed,” said Jan Bernstein-Chargin, founder of the Compassion Center and a board member of PitStop Outreach in Gilroy. She is also on the board of directors for Destination: Home, and facilitates the South County Homeless Task Force.
The problem of homelessness is one that can be solved, but a barrier to the solution is the stigma that comes from living on the streets. Many people fear the homeless and will fight any activity that might bring them into a shelter in their communities or neighborhoods, Bernstein-Chargin said.
One project intended to provide housing for the homeless in Santa Clara County has received pushback by a group of residents. It seeks to convert a 146-room Extended Stay America hotel in Milpitas into permanent supportive housing of 132 studio apartments for homeless people. Supportive services would be provided to help them adjust their lives.
The group, which included a former mayor of the city, formed an LLC, calling it Voices of Milpitas. They filed a complaint against county housing officials and the nonprofit developer Jamboree Housing and the state of California’s Housing and Community Development Department.
The project was allocated $29.2 million in state emergency funding through Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Project Homekey Initiative. An additional $21.9 million would come from the county from the 2016 Measure A bond for affordable housing.
The Milpitas group’s complaint claimed the project would result in “greatly increasing the homeless population in this area” and thus endanger residents in nearby homes. No specifics of threats were provided. The group also claimed property values could be lowered by the project.
The solutions to help the homeless are readily available, but people need to overcome their fear of having men, women and children in need living in housing near their neighborhoods, Bernstein-Chargin said.
“These people are already in your backyard, and here’s the solution to get them out of the creeks and off the streets and into housing, at which point they’re no longer going to be homeless,” she said. “And there’s money already identified to do this from the state of California. This is what you call a no-brainer win-win.”
Some Gilroy residents have already been homeless before, and are not homeless now. Other people in their lives often don’t know that part of their personal history, she said.
“I know so many people who are living stable, boring lives right now who were once homeless and living in tents and getting ticketed (by police) and all this drama six, seven years ago,” she said. “There are people you know who have been homeless, but they just don’t talk about it because of the stigma.”