Santa Clara County Sees Modest Decline in Overall Homelessness 

The number of unhoused individuals dropped by 1.2 percent across Santa Clara County and by 4.7 percent within the City Limits of San Jose compared to 2022, according to preliminary results of the County’s 2023 Point-In-Time (PIT) homeless census released this week. 

The latest count found 9,903 people experiencing homelessness in the County, compared to 10,028 in 2022. Meanwhile, the number of homeless individuals in shelters increased by 7.8 percent this year to 2,502. The number of homeless vets dropped 27.3 percent to 479. 

According to the report, the results reflect the County’s efforts over the past several years to build thousands of affordable housing units, increase homelessness prevention assistance, expand outreach and basic needs services, and pilot new temporary housing and shelter models. 

“Looking at this year’s count and previous years’ numbers, this signals to us that the crisis has not gotten worse despite the national and local economic fallout,” said Consuelo Hernandez, Director of the County’s Office of Supportive Housing. “However, the needs in the community continue to grow and we must continue to focus our efforts in expanding the overall capacity of the supportive housing system.” 

At the same time, the data showed that the number of families experiencing homelessness increased dramatically by 36.5 percent (898 families) across Santa Clara County and 122.2 percent (401 families) in San Jose. 

During a press conference on the PIT census, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan said that count includes families who are also experiencing housing “instability” and are living in tents or vehicles. 

In 2021, the County helped co-launch the Heading Home campaign to end family homelessness which has allowed the County to tally people who typically go unaccounted for as more community members use the program’s services, according to the PIT.   

The Point-in-Time Count is a sheltered and unsheltered people experiencing homelessness on a single night. The County conducts the census every other year. The data is considered preliminary; data for other cities in Santa Clara County and the full report will be released late this year.