SANTA CLARA COUNTY, Calif. (KRON) — In Santa Clara County, May is Affordable Housing Month and the county is hosting a series of events focused on ending homelessness.

Throughout the month, the Santa Clara County Continuum of Care Partners will put on the events, which will go over topics, such as understanding homelessness, creating more affordable housing for low-income families, and providing an update on the county’s “Community Plan to End Homelessness,”

Presenting partners include: Adobe Services, Destination: Home, the City of San Jose, the County of Santa Clara, First Community Housing, the Santa Clara County Office of Supportive Housing, and the Santa Clara County Housing Authority. Affordable Housing Month is sponsored by SV@Home. 

Here’s a list of the events:

An intro to homelessness and proven solutions to answer the publics questions and connect you to work to end homelessness in Santa Clara County.

The Santa Clara County Authority is looking to partner with local property owners to increase affordable housing options for low-income families, elderly, and people with disabilities! Our May 4 information session will provide owners with Housing Choice Voucher program information, resources, and tools for successfully navigating the program’s owner processes.

Almost 6,000 people moved from homelessness to housing in 2020 and 2021. In the same period there was a 33% reduction in the number of people becoming homeless for the first time. How are these numbers calculated? This session will focus on the Supportive Housing System Report and will take a deeper dive into explaining the data and metrics by which we track and assess progress in addressing homelessness.

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What does affordable housing look like? Join for a virtual tour of San José affordable and supportive housing developments. This is a joint event with the County of Santa Clara Office of Supportive Housing and the City of San José’s Housing Department.

This workshop event will introduce Santa Clara County’s new ELI/VLI co-op pilot and allow opportunities to engage and provide feedback. The main focus of this workshop is to provide information and answer questions about the County’s new Type 5 project type in the County’s NOFA, which is for cooperative housing projects. The event is intended for established affordable housing developers and small non-profits/CDCs in Santa Clara County who may have an interest in learning more about cooperative housing (and ultimately applying to our NOFA).

Join the event through Facebook Live on the Abode Services Facebook page starting at 11 a.m. on May 18.

Iamesi Village is an affordable 135-unit apartment building designed to LEED Platinum certification and offers 118 studio units and 16 one-bedroom units at 30-50% of the Area Median Income. This development is devoted entirely to veterans, permanent supportive housing and people with intellectual / developmental disabilities. The tour will include stops at typical apartment units, the community room, 6th floor solarium, outdoor gym, and more. 

While homelessness is often perceived as the result of a personal or moral failure, a growing body of research has shown that homelessness is the result of entrenched, structural inequities plaguing our society. In this session, a panel of experts to dig into the systemic root causes of homelessness, debunk common myths and stereotypes and discuss the type of long-term change that will truly be needed to end homelessness in our community.

This event will be focused on interim housing case studies including the City of San Jose’s Emergency Interim Housing sites and the County’s Casitas de Esperanza and Willow Glen Studios. The session will include an overview of interim housing models being deployed in our community, case studies of specific developments, and how these sites fit into our broader strategy for ending homelessness.