HomeMy WebLinkAbout2015-10-02 Human Relations Commission Minutes
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HUMAN RELATIONS COMMISSION
Veterans Summit
Friday, October 02, 2015
El Palo Alto Room
Mitchell Park Community Center
3700 Middlefield Road
1-4 PM
SPECIAL MEETING
ROLL CALL:
Commissioners Present: Alhassani, Chen, Gordon Gray, O’Nan, Savage, Stinger, Stone
Absent:
Council Liaison: Berman
Staff: Minka van der Zwaag, Mary Constantino
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS:
None
IV. BUSINESS
1. Veterans Summit – Ending Chronic Veteran Homelessness in Santa Clara County
Commissioner Alhassani thanked everyone for coming and stated that it was going to be an amazing
summit because if you wanted to learn anything about veteran homelessness we basically recruited
the dream team. Commission Alhassani thanked the active and reserve veterans and acknowledged
Mayor Holman, and Council Members Berman and Wolbach and the staff from the office of Santa
Clara County Supervisor Cortese and U. S. Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren.
Mayor Holman thanked everyone for attending and also thanked Commissioner Alhassani for leading
the summit and getting the speakers here today because veteran homelessness is not a topic that is full
of glamour, it is not a topic that a lot of people want to face but it is a topic that needs to be
addressed. Mayor Holman added that homelessness is not an issue that just affects veterans, but Palo
Alto has a veteran population that needs to be talked about. She still feel traumatized when two years
ago two women died in our public parks during the winter which is unacceptable because together
there is no problem that Palo Alto cannot solve. Palo Alto is a good community with good
governance and that is how Palo Alto needs to tackle homelessness because there is no issue or
concern that we together cannot solve. The First Lady launched the program Joining Forces which
focuses on Homeless Veterans and it speaks to appreciation and showing respect. Mayor Holman
stated that today she would be signing the Mayor’s challenge and wanted to recognize the leadership
of Dave Cortese’s office and the county for being a part of this program and really appreciate that
Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren’s office has someone here representing her. Thank you for all coming
and my intense gratitude for the HRC for setting up the summit where we can all come together and
talk about solutions. Thank you very much.
Commissioner Alhassani introduced Colonel Malachowski, He met Colonel Malachowski when she
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was a White House Fellow which is a program that the government recruits the best and brightness of
America and has them spend time in public service. “I am honored Colonel Malachowski is here
today. The Colonel has served as a mission-ready fighter pilot in three operational F15 fighter
squadrons, flown over 188 combat hours both in Operation Delivered Forge and Operation Iraqi
Freedom, the first woman in the Airforce Administration squadron to fly and is currently the
Executive Director of the First Ladies Initiative Joining Forces so it is an honor and privilege to
introduce Colonel Malachowski.”
Colonel Malachowski stated that it was an honor to be standing here today and wanted to thank the
City of Palo Alto for their gracious invitation to what we in the White House consider an
extraordinarily important event and thank you, Mayor Holman, for signing onto the Mayor’s
Challenge. She stated that she will be sending a note to the First Lady first thing, and she knows that
she will be delighted to see that leadership, and we appreciate the city for having the foresight and
vision to convene today’s summit. It is a discussion issue that is affecting cities across our nation and
that is the issue of veteran homelessness. A special thank you for Commissioner Alhassani and Vice
Chair Stone for their work on the Human Relations Commission, and she thanked Minka van der
Zwaag and Mary Constantino for all of the logistics in getting her to Palo Alto and putting this great
event together. She is really pleased to know that this audience consists of a diverse team of folks
interested in ending veteran homelessness whether it is elected officials across Santa Clara County,
local nonprofits, private stakeholders, federal partners, and concerned citizens alike. She was
delighted that the attendees are here because the first step in attacking a problem is making sure the
right people are at the table. Sometimes it means having difficult conversations and things may be
uncomfortable but your willingness to come today and start that conversation is very important. To
know that the city of Palo Alto and Santa Clara County is dedicated to ending veteran homeless really
does mean something and it means something with our leadership at the White House too. To that
end she said that she was honored and delighted to bring you greetings from the First Lady and Dr.
Biden. They do offer their sincere thanks for your willingness to join forces in tackling this issue and
do offer their best wishes that this summit creates new relationships, shares data and best practices
and hopefully galvanizes and canalizes the efforts as you move forward today because this is just the
start of a conversation so sticking together from here on out and tackling this issue is going to be a
team event, and she has no doubt that today’s conveying is going to teach us something new because
she has been going to a lot of events across the country, and she always have an “ah ha” moment
about something a community is doing better than someplace else, and she have been able to share
that. Our nation has a moral obligation to ensure that anyone who has ever worn our Nation’s
uniform has a place to call home. She stated that she needs us to be cognizant of the fact that how we
treat our veterans, our national resolve is a readiness issue and is in direct proportion of our ability of
a nation to recruit and retain the next generation of Americans willing to wear their Nation’s uniform.
It has real implications to the entire nation, and she wanted this to be kept it in the back of everyone’s
mind as we go through this event today that it is more than the event today it is more than the City of
Palo Alto and Santa Clara County. It is about America.
If you are not familiar with the Joining Forces Initiative, it was launched 4½ years ago by the First
Lady and Dr. Biden and its mission was simply to really elevate the narrative to a national level
surrounding our veterans, servicemen, military families to shine a light on the unique strengths that
only the crucible that military life can create and those intangible characteristics and positive qualities
that make our veterans and military families so unique and such special civic assets but its mission is
also to shine a light on the unique challenges that our veterans and families face and certainly veteran
homelessness is one of those. In June of 2014 our First Lady joined forces with partners of
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Department of Veteran Affairs, Housing and Urban Development, U.S. Interagency Council on
Homelessness, and Department of Labor a full interagency process to launch the Mayor’s Challenge,
something that your Mayor just publically signed up to do, to end veteran homelessness across this
country. In the First Lady’s remarks she stated that “it is our country’s duty to bring back all of our
men and women from the battle field, and we also have a duty to make sure that every single veteran
has a place to call home when they get here and for the rest of their lives.” At the time of the launch
we had 77 mayor’s 4 governors and 4 county officials signed on and as of this morning we have 629
mayors, 9 governors and 165 county officials that have signed on. Think about that number that
jump in just over a year across our nation because our communities are committing to ending
veterans homelessness by raising their hands willing to come to the table and roll up their sleeves and
get this work done as they realized they cannot do it alone. The City of Palo Alto should be proud that
your Mayor has signed on to this Mayor’s challenge because it is the right thing to do. As you know
Santa Clara County has the highest proportional unsheltered homeless veterans in our country. As
Executive Director of Joining Forces she stated that she has had the privilege of meeting and
speaking to a lot of community leaders across our nation about this issue, and she has to say that she
is heartened by the energy, enthusiasm and pride of this work. She has been an active duty Air force
Colonel for 24 years, she is a working mom of 5-year old twins, and a military spouse, her husband
served flying F15Es in combat as well. We are seeing successes all along the way and now in Palo
Alto. What we are seeing is the necessity of selfless crosstalk; mayors talking to mayors, nonprofits
talking to nonprofits, philanthropic and private partners stepping up to have conversations because
there is no one size fits all national answer to solving veteran homelessness. It is going to be done
city by city, county by county and state by state and it will require heavy lifting, it will require
uncomfortable conversations, it will require overcoming boundaries and silos and stovepipes to join
forces to get it done and it is going to get done by the type of people sitting in this room right now.
Each city needs to identify its unique strengths, identify those gaps and come together to figure out
the best way to most efficiently and effectively cover those gaps. Solutions need to offer
individualized attention because it has to be tailored to a specific community at the time of need, at
the place of need and the scale of need and that is why summits like this are so important to highlight
best practices to shine a light on what is working and share candid conversation on ways to move
forward, and she knows that the attendees recognize that their efforts of supporting veterans and their
families cannot happen in isolation, and the First Lady and Dr. Biden did in fact call their initiative
Joining Forces for that reason and the fact that it takes the entire nation to support our service
members. She cannot under-state the importance of local government, state and national entities,
businesses, nonprofits philanthropic partners, individual community volunteers to come together and
do this. It requires difficult and candid conversations, invocation and teamwork and it requires all of
us in this room. She recounted that on September 16 she had a one-on-one with the First Lady as she
often gets but it was special because it was a dedicated hour talking about veteran homelessness so
that is how important it is to my boss. She said that she was here to tell you that her resolve is so
strong and not more so then when she launched this Mayor’s Challenge and the sense of urgency she
wants you to feel is high. It is not about waiting any longer for the right time. The time is now for us
to end veteran homelessness; a step toward ending homelessness nationwide. She is energized by the
successes she sees, by the drive and the goals that all of you have and she is inspired by your efforts.
She knows about Palo Alto because she must get approval of which cities she goes to and why the
juxtaposition of having that high population of unsheltered homeless veterans per capita across
Silicon Valley is interesting and intriguing isn’t it? It is a stark contrast, it is hard for us to get our
minds around, and that is why she is intrigued about Palo Alto and Santa Clara County. She is
committed alongside Palo Alto to reach this goal of ending veteran homelessness. We have been
watching this arch since launching the Mayor’s Challenge, and we watched these best practices
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emerge and she was here to tell the attendees that there is one thread that connects all of the
communities and it is leadership and leadership of every level whether you are an individual who
goes out and helps nonprofits during a pit count or if you are the mayor because leadership of mayors
is so important because people listen when mayors speak, people act when mayors set strategic
priorities and people get things done when they are empowered by mayors and their personal
commitment means something to everyone sitting in this room and to look at the other mayors across
Santa Clara County and the leadership across Santa Clara County to join forces is so important. It
also takes leadership at the federal level. The First Lady is doing her part but the Departments of
Veterans Affairs, Housing and Urban Development and Labor are doing amazing things across the
country and there are thousands of interactions every day that our veterans and families are having
with the federal government that are going so right. There is so much to be proud of in your
leadership at the federal level, and I see it time and time again. In Palo Alto you have a crown jewel
in your Veterans Administration Medical Center. It is one of the best in our nation not only is it a
national leader in poly trauma medical care or its mental health programs but it has an extraordinarily
innovative and impactful veteran homeless program. She recounted that she spent all day yesterday
with the VA staff and the team is here because they care. They want you to talk to them; they want
to educate you and talk to you about what they can do for the community and they want to join forces
with you. They are here to partner with you today. They just want you to stand up and take their
hand. In 2014 the Palo Alto VA served 4,718 homeless veterans across 8 local homelessness
programs. Your local Veterans Administration has provided funding for 853 HUD-VASH vouchers
in Santa Clara County of 604 are currently being used. There are 249 people out there with HUD-
VASH vouchers and not a place to use them. That is your gap Santa Clara County. We need to find
landlords and do outreach and create project-based affordable housing to close that gap. It is no
surprise that Silicon Valley has high rental costs alongside low availability. We need help with
landlord outreach because some people may attach an unfounded stigma to HUD vouchers.
Landlords must know that HUD-VASH voucher programs pare a housing voucher from HUD with
case management and supportive services to sustain housing stability while promoting veteran
recovery across the continuum of care. It is full support not just a roof over their head. She saw
something yesterday that she did not think she would be impacted by but the Willow Housing
Construction Project in Menlo Park is the prime example of public private partnerships coming
together to have an impact. It is doable but hard work. It took a couple of years to get to this point
rolling up their sleeves and getting in the mud and people getting together across cultures and
community to get it done. There are 60 modern and beautiful units. It is going to provide affordable
high quality housing for homeless and at-risk veterans; all in proximity to supportive services and
healthcare. It is perfect. Please go look at it. Please replicate it. A diverse group dedicated to ending
veteran homeless came together and it is being done so there is no doubt by very nature of this
conference and the people sitting in this room that you understand the moral obligation we as a nation
to end veteran homelessness and looking around this room it is clear to me and talking to you today
and the leadership of your mayor that this is doable and achievable. We are going to end veteran
homeless so thank you all for being champions because great ideas need champions, hard problems
need champions and you are here because you are champions. So on behalf of the First Lady and Dr.
Biden and my entire Joining Forces team I extend you a sincere thank you for efforts for taking the
first step and showing up here today, and I wish you a very successful and enjoyable summit.
Commissioner Alhassani introduced David Wilkinson the White House Director of Social Innovation
and Civic Participation and in that capacity he leads the White House efforts to identify and scale
more effective social solutions, advancing present priorities, strengthening communities and enable
upward economic mobility. This involves identifying programs that work better through the use of
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data and evidence as well as scaling what works through smarter use of federal resources and private
and public partnerships.
Mr. Wilkinson stated that we come to you in a very good mood because things are going well in the
United States. Last month 173,000 jobs were created with 66 straight months of job growth, the
unemployment rate is down 5.1%, inflation is down, gas prices are down, and consumer confidence is
up. We have 13 million more people on good quality healthcare today compared to the start of this
administration. High school graduation rates are higher than they have ever been. So we have a lot
to feel good about, but we all know that not everyone has benefited from the rising tide, and we are
working on a number of challenges where there is still so much more progress to be made. There is
no higher priority for the President than the issue of veteran homelessness. He stated that he was
thrilled to talk about it today in a region that has been really innovating across a number of fronts on
this issue. We know the solutions that work to reduce and eliminate veteran homelessness. How do
we overcome the barriers to making them happen? The centerpiece of the President’s social
innovation agenda and the solution is “Pay for Success” which is a way for government to pay for
positive social outcomes when they happen and to scale up the interventions that we know works
best. He saw a news story that came across his desk that Santa Clara County closed the first Pay for
Success transaction on the West Coast to address veteran homelessness and people in this room were
involved. That is groundbreaking. An example of the program is in Denver where there is a problem
of chronic homelessness, and they were interested in implementing evidence-based policy of
permanent supportive housing for 300 of their chronically homeless individuals. The chronically
homeless individuals tend to be super utilizers of services. They often are in and out of the criminal
justice system, the mental health system and emergency rooms, rehab facilities and shelters. It is an
unfortunate challenge to the human experience and cost to communities in terms of budget. In
Denver they decided to identify 300 individuals and determine how much this population costs their
social services and then they linked all of the data and found that the population of 300 individuals
cost Denver 11.4 million dollars a year across systems. They then calculated that it would cost 5.4
million a year to provide permanent supportive housing for the 300 individuals. They found out that
they could effectively eliminate chronic homelessness of this population while saving 6 million
dollars a year. It is a familiar story because we know that there are many preventive solutions in
permanent supportive housing that get better results and save money so why are communities around
the country not implementing them. It turns out that there are barriers. In Denver there were
budgetary barriers that included the cost of ramping up the new systems because when they were
spending so much on social services it is hard to find the budgetary space for the preventative
services in addition to the political risk but what if communities could contract for performance and
only pay if the system worked so Denver was able to scale up permanent supportive housing with
HousingFirst through Pay for Success. Pay for Success is performance contracting for the social
sector but where performance is rigorously verified through social outcomes. Denver will pay once
the target population of 300 individuals is stabilized and verified to no longer be homeless and once
saving from that are achieved. The government is great on funding innovation whether it paying for
performance or innovation and when it comes to the social sector they are much more likely to pay
for outputs and compliance than outcomes and impact. When it comes to social services including
homeless response, we are often a customer for process and activities rather than a customer for
outcomes. Addressing that challenge is the heart of the social innovation agenda. The principle is
where there is evidence that programs are achieving outcomes that are determined by rigorous
analysis to be out performing the status quo than the government should act in replicating and
adapting those programs. There are growing programs across issue areas that are achieving
definitively and measurably better results. With homelessness there is no area where there is better
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evidence of the solutions that work and HousingFirst and permanent supportive housing is a poster
child for what can be achieved when evidence-based solutions are implemented. It is achieving
outcomes that many people did not think possible. Despite overwhelming evidence that it gets better
results and saves money there is still a long way to go. It is by far not universally implemented.
Veterans with post-traumatic stress (PTSD) have a very high rate of unemployment which is a
significant feeder to veteran homelessness. There is a program at the VA that connects veterans who
suffer from PTSD with jobs 28% of the time, but we know that we could do better. There is an
individualized placement support that has 22 randomized control trials including one exclusively with
veterans with PTSD placing them in jobs 76% of the time. That is 270% better than business as usual
but if you are a veteran with PTSD and seek help today you will almost get the 28% solution. We are
very interested in why some of these solutions do not happen. It is not the policymakers who do not
want to implement the best solutions there are real barriers which Pay for Success can help address.
What are the barriers that prevent us from implementing the best solutions that are evidence based?
1. We know that tight budgets and funding restrictions limit resources available to pay for
preventative solutions. When a homeless veteran hits the criminal justice system or the
emergency room we pay for that but the solution that prevents them from hitting the system in
the first place is often hard to find resources for so Pay for Success solves that problem because
the way Pay for Success works is you only pay for the outcome which means you create the
budgetary savings and pay for it once the savings is created.
2. The wrong investment pockets problem is an investment by local housing agencies may save
money to the healthcare system and justice system but the housing agency will not see the
savings and the healthcare and justice system usually do not have the authority to invest in
housing so we get stuck. Pay for success solves that problem. It enables the agency to contract
to pay for the outcomes that are relevant to them and share the costs so even if the intervention is
not in their wheel house. For instance while it may be hard for the healthcare system to pay for a
housing intervention it is easier for them to pay for the positive healthcare outcomes that result
once the healthcare outcomes can be verified. The mechanism of the outcome contract enables
agencies across silos to pay for a fair share for the savings and outcomes that they will enjoy in
their issue area.
3. The political risk of trying something new. An intervention can fail and constituents can get mad
invested in the status quo and will point out the risk and be a barrier to change. Pay for Success
also addresses the issue that tax payers are not on the hook if it doesn’t work because
government only pays for success. How does Pay for Success work in practice. First you have
an entity that may be willing to pay for positive outcomes. Then you have a service provider who
says I will try. The problem if you are a nonprofit service provider you usually do not have the
money to deliver an intervention, wait for the results and evaluation, and then get paid. It is a
real challenge and that is where the mission of investors and philanthropy come into play and
take the risk to pay the upfront costs to the service provider to deliver on this intervention over
time and they achieve outcomes. The evaluator evaluates the outcomes and asks were the results
positive or negative and the evaluator tells the government the system worked which triggers the
payment in through the Pay for Success contract and a series of government agencies combine
and pay back the investor. It is very simple and it is what government does across all sorts of
issues areas but it is performance contracting for the social sector and not where we are
measuring how many people got trainings or how many heads and beds but measuring the
specific social outcomes.
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It is the center of the President’s Social and Innovation calendar and the focus is how the federal
government, philanthropy, state and local government help can. The United States is the largest
market in the world for Pay for Success with approximately $100 million invested and the Santa
Clara investment was the eighth in the country. How can we help? One way is to help communities
take action and do some feasibility studies. How can we get the philanthropic and mission investors
on board, how can we identify the service provider, bring all of the parties together and actually close
these transitions to scale up these evidence solutions. The brass ring is the government can pay for
outcomes. Too often government is the customer for compliance and process. A critically important
role is data because if we are going to pay for outcomes we need to evaluate them and historically
data can be expensive. Data makes evaluation more affordable. Every division of government has
administrative data. They are tracking the costs and services that the individuals are receiving. When
a homeless veteran hits the healthcare system, VA system or criminal justice system, we know how
frequently and how much it costs. We rarely track that data in real time to know what their lived
experience is today. The traditional RCT surveys is complicated, time consuming and expensive.
Data can make it cheaper and faster and more accurate and real time so social service providers can
do rapid psyche evaluation and can learn and course correct. Palo Alto, Silicon Valley, Santa Clara
County is better positioned than any community in the country to make use of this tremendous
intellectual and commercial asset. I am thrilled that companies like Palantir and Google are looking at
ways that they can bring their unique skill sets and abilities to reduce the costs of affirming social
outcomes to track them and provide better services for veterans. Palo Alto and Santa Clara County
can lead the nation. He stated that on behalf of the President he would like to thank you for showing
the rest of the country what is possible.
Questions from the Audience.
Norman Carroll stated that “Housing First” was mentioned several times to be the service model at
the new facility on the VA campus in Menlo Park. It is illegal to be under the influence on a VA
facility. It cannot be Housing First when you are trying to house people and help them get clean and
sober when they are under the influence, and to get to the housing that is going to keep them clean
and sober how. How do you make that work?
Kate Severon, Chief of the Homeless Programs, VA Palo Alto replied that the VA has 60 units of
permanent supportive housing. The question is if the veteran is under the influence when they arrive
they are not allowed to be there. How is that consistent with harm reduction of Housing First? The
VA is working with the director on a waiver but the final status has not been confirmed.
Sue Serrone asked if Mr. Wilkinson could elaborate a little bit more about the data analysis that the
government is doing and if Google, other high tech companies, Stanford or other universities are
contracting with the government for data. Mr. Wilkson replied that the government is making early
progress on these state, local, and federal government localities which are often in the best position to
do this and much of the data exists at the local level and the challenge is they are often siloed. The
challenge is not in the data analytics because companies like Palantir, Google, and data science firms
have the capacity when the government makes the data available to them to link it and garner all sorts
of lessons that we may not be able to see. The data can often surprise us. As he mentioned the wrong
pockets problem an intervention that costs a dollar may be worth 40 cents in savings to the health
care system, 30 cents in the criminal system and 30 cents of savings to another system but it is not
worth it to anyone of them to pay for the program but if they could combine and see the saving
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together there is a workable solution that comes from linking data. Palantir is now working with
Santa Clara County on a pro-bono basis to link the data. The hardest part is the data sharing
agreements because it is critically important to maintain the privacy for individuals who are receiving
services and our data sharing agreements need to affirm that is it unquestionably the priority. The
challenges that we see across the country is getting to these agreements can slow things down. Once
you get there we have the tech capability to link this data and draw lessons from the outcomes and to
help social service providers understand the impacts of their work and achieve better outcomes.
Lynn Huidekoper, a homeless advocate, stated that there is zero housing in Santa Clara County and
that is why we have 7,000 homeless. The average rent is $2,500 for a one bedroom and it is fabulous
at the Executive Branch level that you are now addressing this social and humanitarian crisis because
people are dying having to sleep outdoors. One year ago she looked online to see if Congress had a
homeless commission and did not see any evidence of one on the federal level.
Ms. Malachowski replied that she has not looked into whether Congress has a commission but if it
does not your point is valid. Talking to your local representatives and having them push that issue
forward whether we are talking about the mayor today, county executives or your own representatives
in Congress. What she can say that Congress did establish the United States Interagency Council on
Homelessness or what is referred to USICH and their website is where information can be found
regarding Housing First. USICH is established by Congress and is the clearing house for 19 federal
agencies that all come together on homelessness. While she cannot speak for Congress whether they
have a commission, she can tell you on a federal level that USICH may be a place for you to look and
do some research.
Sue Dremann asked whether once the initial outcome of a particular program has been successful
how will the ongoing support be achieved? You may have a structure that you built but there are
programs that are needed so how do you maintain a certain level of service and care?
Mr. Wilkinson replied that this is not a one-time outcome like creating a structure. Pay for Success is
a tool that enables government to continuously track outcomes and pay for outcomes as they are
achieved. It also enables social service providers to continuously assess their performance in whether
they are achieving the outcomes that their mission is set out to achieve. For instance, a social service
provider that is providing services to the homeless may be seeking to place them in permanent
supportive housing which is not considered an outcome but the outcome is the improved stability of
life, less chemical dependency, less interaction with the criminal justice system, fewer trips to the
emergency room and that generates continued savings to the social service system which is continued
resources to pay for the savings. At the same time we do not see Pay for Success as a long term
solution. We see Pay for Success primarily as a tool to enable governments to overcome the barriers
to implementing evidence-based solutions. In particular there are political risks and budgetary
barriers to try and execute on preventative solutions. Pay for Success is a great way to overcome the
barriers because you do not have to pay for it if it does not work and you will generate savings and
once you generate savings that is when you pay. We would expect that after a community has
engaged in a Pay for Success solution implementing a service and once they bite the bullet and do it
with Pay for Success they may say we do not need to pay mission investors a 2-4% return let us do it
directly but continue to track the outcomes.
Pastor Bains, President, WeHope Shelter in East Palo Alto stated that it is tragedy to see any death
but participially the homeless who are left out and behind in so many ways. What would be the on-
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ramps if an organization has something that they feel is very innovative to use as a hook to get the
homeless the services they need because some homeless will not come to a shelter. How can we
partner with you to get something that is scalable if we have something we feel is innovative.
Mr. Wilkinson replied that Santa Clara County is a hot bed of activity. First you need to be working
on a mission that is shared by the government or someone that is willing to pay for positive outcomes.
Second you need an intervention that can yield results that are measureable. Through the solution
government pays for outcomes and you need to be able to measure those outcomes once they have
been achieved. If you have a great high impact program and you know that the government cares
about doing more of it then the next thing you need is someone to be willing to pay for the delivery of
the service. Pay for Success leverages the philanthropic and mission investors because what you
need is someone who is willing to make a bet on you and say “I will pay upfront to implement this
solution and the government is willing to pay them back once the outcomes are achieved.”
Ms. Malachowski added that this is the first step, and she challenged the mayor, Commissioner
Alhassani and his team, and the VA to leave here today with a call to action that this is going to start
a drum beat on the path to end all homelessness so the right people have to be at the table. The next
step, leaving here today, is to agree to come together in working groups because what you need to do
is map the reality of Palo Alto and figure out what your organization does that another nonprofit does
and determine where there is an overlap and identify those gaps. The hard part is agreeing that those
are the right gaps because different organizations view the problem in a different lens. It is hard
because these are people who have dedicated their lives with passion, with emotion and feelings are
attached and it does require some tension sometimes in deciding what are the priorities and joining
forces even with people you do not see eye to eye and move the ball forward. The next steps are
forming a working group and admit that no one organization here has the solution.
Commission Alhassani stated that the second half of the summit will be focused on our community.
The housing panelist will have three to five minutes to introduce themselves, talk about the work they
do and then questions will be asked to the panelist and then Vice Chair Stone will do the same with
the healthcare panelist. The remainder of the time will be saved for Q and A with the audience.
Janbir Sandhu, Manager of Supportive Services for Veteran Management, HomeFirst stated that
HomeFirst is the leader in providing services to those who are currently homeless and
disenfranchised in Santa Clara County. HomeFirst has been partnering with other service providers
for the past 35 years with multitude of programs including the largest shelters in Santa Clara County
sheltering 250 individuals per night and also the cold weather shelter program in Sunnyvale, San Jose
and Gilroy which start at the end of November and go through March. HomeFirst provides medical
respite programs at the Boccardo Reception Center for individuals who are partnering with the Valley
Regional Medical Centers and who are homeless and do not have a space to go. One of our largest
programs is the outreach with the City of San Jose and in conjunction with County of Santa Clara.
HomeFirst provides mental health programs which includes case management, support to find
housing assistance, employment assistance and overall stability for the household. HomeFirst also
has a plethora of veteran programs. HomeFirst’s HCHV contract includes our veterans enhance
shelter program, the GPD program, grant per diem program and a two-year veteran program onsite in
San Jose and the SSVF program for the last four years. HomeFirst has a plethora of relationships
with the City of San Jose, the County of Santa Clara, the VA system and other nonprofit
organizations in Santa Clara County to make sure each veteran has a home which is our campaign to
end veteran homelessness. HomeFirst has signed on with the county and VA to end homelessness.
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Jennifer Loving, Destination Home, a public private partnership that works to end homelessness in
Santa Clara County stated that Destination Home uses collective impact strategies. In 2011
Destination Home launched Housing 1,000 where almost 1,000 people have been housed in Santa
Clara County. Destination Home worked on the Community Plan to End Homelessness which calls
for the creation of 6,000 new housing opportunities and is looking to create or find over 700 housing
opportunities for veterans and is happy to be working with Supervisor Cortese and Mayor Liccardo
who have already accepted the challenge to end veteran homelessness. The Board of Supervisors
recently approved over $1 million in new rapid rehousing dollars for veterans joining the funding
from SSVF that our nonprofit providers as well as the HUD VASH subsidies. Destination Home’s
work will be connecting the private sector with landlord communities as well as continuing to find
resources to fill the gap for the veterans that are not yet identified for housing. Ms. Loving added
that Home Not Found which is a cost of homelessness study released a few months ago looking at the
cost of homelessness in Santa Clara County. The study determined that the county spends over $500
million a year managing homelessness largely through our correctional and healthcare systems and
the information launched the counties first Pay for Success project focused on chronic homelessness
in Santa Clara County which is administered by Abode and lead by the county and private investors.
Housing is the solution but we know that the traditional resources like Section 8 and HUD dollars do
not work in Santa Clara County because they are not market solutions when these rents are higher
than any federal payment standard means that the 300 veterans that have HUD VASH vouchers have
no place to go. What our next challenge is besides creative uses of land and money how to invest in
more supportive and affordable housing and how to make these federal tools more workable in our
local landscape.
Jennifer Knapp, Healthcare for Homeless Program, Department of Domiciliary of Service, U.S.
Department of Veterans’ Affairs stated that their programs are supposed to address the clinical and
economic needs of the veterans and work together to tailor a customized and unique mosaic fit to the
unique needs of veterans. The National Call Center is the VA’s newest accessibility program for the
veterans who are not plugged into the VA system. The program is for veterans who want to call to
talk about their homeless solutions and find out what the VA can provide. The program is an
important gateway for the veterans who want to know what types of services are available to them.
In 2014 there were 1,029 calls to the call center. The VA has emergency housing for up to 90 days
with 70 contracted emergency beds in Santa Clara County which includes one site for families, one
site for veterans who have serious mental illness and one site for veterans with sexual offences and
medical respite. The grant per diem program is an older program with 141 beds in Santa Clara
County where veterans can stay up to two years to work out problems and then move on to permanent
housing. Santa Clara County is classified as a Priority One Place where the county is receiving surge
funding and receiving funds to help veteran families. SSVF is one of the VA’s flexible programs to
meet the needs of the veteran not only rapid rehousing but to prevent veteran homelessness. HUD
VASH is one of the VA’s more successful programs not only to house the veterans but to stay housed
which combines a Housing Choice Voucher from HUD and clinical support and case management
with VA case managers. From 2013-15 322 veterans were housed in Santa Clara County. In the
local jurisdiction 587 veterans have been housed this year.
Ky Le, Director of Santa Clara County Office of Supportive Housing stated his office is responsible
for implementing the Board of Supervisor’s priorities around housing and homelessness and the
focus is on providing affordable housing for the poorest residents in the community who are earning
30 percent or less of the area median income including people on fixed income such as supplemental
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security income and SSDI whose income are 15% of area median incomes which means someone
earning $12,000-$15,000 per year. The department is focused on the most vulnerable and neediest
individuals in the community, people with serious mental illness and who are poor, young people
coming out of the foster care system, seniors with fixed incomes with chronic health conditions and
because of those priorities our office is very focused on reducing homelessness especially chronic
homelessness primarily their impact on the safety net system: emergency rooms, jails, etc. Our
department is responsible for coordinating all of the HUD Continuum of Care grants $15 - $17
million worth of homelessness services and managing the coordinated system for permanent
supportive housing in the county with 1,000 supportive housing and case management slots. Broadly
the counties role in ending homelessness among veterans and other populations is really a leadership
and facilitation role and the county is well positioned to provide many of the supportive services
necessary. If you are seriously mentally ill in Santa Clara County and on Medi-Cal, it is the county’s
responsibility to manage your care and provide you with entitlement benefits. It is through the
county’s services to leverage federal and state dollars. We have a role as a safety net provider of
services in our community and many of those services are connected to homeless. The county has to
play a role in facilitating housing development for the populations across our community because we
can spend our money and partner with cities to make the supportive housing and programs a reality
and the county is doing that through the Care Coordination Project. The county is partnering with the
City of Palo Alto using funding from the city to provide services. What the county needs is housing
and the question is not how will it be funded, how will the services be provided or who is providing
the case management and the question is where is it going to be built that is question that is difficult
and uncomfortable to answer because it is who’s land, where is going to be next to and whose
funding. The cities and counties have shown leadership in trying to provide as much resource as
possible to bring supportive housing to fruition.
Commissioner Alhassani asked since the 2015 (homeless) census was completed could you please
provide a summary on how many homeless are in Santa Clara County, what does it look like, and the
reason they are homeless?
Ms. Sandu replied that in Santa Clara County the homeless population has dropped by 14% since the
last census which is the highest decrease in 10 years. The veteran population dropped just 2 percent
so we need to target veterans and make sure all avenues for spaces are available for all participants.
The last PIT (point in time) count had identified 718 veterans and the VA gap analysis includes the
718 individuals who qualify for the grant per diem programs, HCHV, shelter bed programs are taken
out and estimating 1,159 veterans who are homeless in SCC and the demographic overall 58% of
veterans are white, 30% are black, 71% recently became homeless or not chronic homeless, the
greatest percentage of veterans living in owned home or rented by themselves or shared is 39% right
before they became homeless. Primarily causes of veteran homelessness 32% reported job loss, 19%
percent the use of drugs and alcohol was their highest cause, 18% due to chronic health conditions,
14% divorce or separation and 3% due to a fall out with friend or family member.
Commissioner Alhassani stated that for past two census counts homelessness has dropped 14% but
among the veteran population it has only dropped 2 percent. Do we have a hypothesis and why?
Ms. Sandu stated that in 2013 Destination Home had one of our largest shelter programs for veterans
open up called HVEHF which increased the shelter count from unsheltered to sheltered so the shelter
count went down drastically; however, ever since then the solutions are in place but solutions are not
as big. When it comes to non-veteran homeless populations, the local governments had really
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coalesced together around aggressive permanent supportive housing strategies since 2011 and really
aggressively focused on using Housing First amongst the vulnerable neighbors. Cities and counties
went all out with $100 million in new money for these kinds of activities and many nonprofits were
working together and if there was not a drop in homelessness we would have been surprised.
Veterans were housed during that effort but the local Continuum of Care does not oversee the HUD
VASH vouchers so those are administered separately and are being housed at an incredible rate. She
thinks moving forward blending the Continuum and having a more integrated approach would be
beneficial.
Ms. Knapp added that even though the decrease was 2% there have been approximately 620 veterans
in Santa Clara County that have been housed. There are many more people who are actually looking
to help veterans with phenomenal efforts of the nonprofits and SSVF providers.
Commissioner Alhassani asked what the Housing Task Force was at the County Level?
Mr. Le stated that Supervisor Cortese and the Board of Supervisors created a Housing Task Force
which first met in April and will continue to December. The purpose for the taskforce was to identify
some solutions or interventions that could be implemented quickly with a focus on meeting the basic
needs of individuals. On September 15 the Board of Supervisors approved the funding for one-time
funding of $13 million and $8 million annually for new homeless services and of those services $1.1-
$1.2 million was for permanent supportive housing and rapid rehousing for homeless veterans. The
reason why the staff made the recommendation was that the VA does an excellent job of providing
permanent supportive housing through HUD VASH. The SSVF is an excellent program but it is the
combination of the two programs plus flexible discretionary funding from the county that makes the
program complete because when you have a program at the federal level there are still folks that fall
through the cracks and as the county knows that people fall through the cracks usually end up at the
county’s door. Finally the county is trying to create a supportive housing system because when the
county creates the housing units there is a service system in place to make sure the people are
successful in obtain and maintaining their housing.
Commissioner Alhassani stated that even though the housing complexes are very expensive and the
county is spending $500 million on homeless services we can basically ballpark the savings the
county will receive?
Mr. Le replied that the cost study did identify that the homeless use approximately $500 million in
services each year and 50 percent of the services are used by less than 10% of the individuals but they
are not getting better or housed. While creating intangible cost savings we cannot close down the jail
or emergency room, but they can be made more effective and provide services that will help people
recover and increase their health.
Commissioner Alhassani asked Jennifer Loving to speak about the Community Plan to end
Homelessness. Ms. Loving replied that Destination Home worked with many folks in the community
to create a regional community plan to end homelessness and Destination Home Board became the
Continuum of Care Board which makes Destination Home responsible for the federal dollars and
there was a mandate for the region to have a 10-year plan. The governing jurisdictions had a diverse
group of stakeholders to create one regional plan that all could adopt, the plan was created and
endorsed at the end of last year. Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, Housing Authority,
Silicon Valley Leadership Group, Santa Clara County Water, cities of San Jose, Morgan Hill, Gilroy
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and Campbell have already endorsed the plan, and are working on getting a 100% endorsement. The
basic strategy is everyone needs to work together to create housing that is accessible to the homeless
population. The target is 6,000 opportunities with the service dollars to maintain the housing and
foster homelessness recovery and stability in their housing and cut through the bureaucracy. How do
we make it easier for people to get the help that they need and some of that are money and
coordination and the massive investments coming out of Santa Clara County because the county
created the Office of Supportive Housing to target homelessness. The county created the office and
consolidated staff, expertise and housing contracts and dollars under one roof and now more
partnerships are able to be executed.
Commissioner Alhassani asked what would help support the efforts of the panelist. Jennifer Loving
replied that all available land within jurisdictions needs to be looked at for affordable and supportive
housing. When cities grant money to developers you need in exchange direct access to the housing
units for the most vulnerable populations within your cities. You can work with partnerships with the
county and local entities to create services and other dollars to make the projects workable.
Ms. Janbir Sandu added that the people who are involved in local governments need to engage with
local landlords and employers to house and employ veterans and give them equal access to all
services from macro to grassroots and look at each strategy. There are services and local outreach
lines and how do we engage someone who is currently homeless to outreach services, how do you as
an individual partner in your city, county or on your street and how can we have awareness with
everyone you know on this issue of homelessness.
Ms. Knapp added that we all own this problem, so next time a there is a proposition for affordable
housing make sure the citizens and colleagues do not vote it down. The question is how many
paychecks are you from homelessness? If you lost your job tomorrow how long could you stay in
housing before becoming homeless considering that we live in one of the most expensive areas in the
county? Many of the homeless vets have jobs, but they are underemployed and cannot afford to find
a place to stay here.
Mr. Le added that the National Alliance to End Homeless has five steps for ending homelessness and
the most important is to set a clear and numerical goal and timeline. How many veterans will be
houses in this region and when and where is the address.
Vice Chair Stone thanked Commissioner Alhassani and all of the panelists. Vice Chair Stone asked
the Healthcare Panel to introduce themselves.
Rex Andrea stated that he retired recently from the County of San Mateo as the Emergency Response
Coordinator for the Human Services Agency and has been involved with the Center of Homelessness
and coordinated many homeless outreach events and the biannual census. Mr. Andrea added that he
is a Vietnam Veteran and has experienced homelessness and is a recovered substance abuse user with
32 years clean and sober and will focus his comments largely on his past because the counties are
good about public service and have broad concepts that are meaningless until you bring them down to
an individual level. There are very diverse populations and there is no one size fits all and it is
essential to break things down in a way that services are brought to individuals because people
always fall through the cracks unless you address their specific needs.
David Grillo Coordinator of Criminal Justice Outreach Programs for the Veteran Administration
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stated that the VA Palo Healthcare System has a very vast system that covers 10 counties locally.
The VA Healthcare System operates three primary medical centers in a series of outpatient clinics
and serves approximately 70,000 veterans who are actively using the system. The system is home to
a variety of regional treatment centers. We are very lucky to have these resources including poly
trauma, rehabilitation center, spinal cord injury center and national center for post-traumatic stress
disorder. The VA Health Care system also has an affiliation with Stanford University Medical
School which includes vast research in medical training partnership including all specialty and sub-
specialty medical services. The VA covers general medical care, specialty inpatient and outpatient
medical services, mental health including inpatient psychiatry and outpatient mental health with some
specialty mental health services including outpatient post-traumatic stress disorder clinic, men’s and
women’s in patient post traumatic disorder recovery programs, substance abuse services with three
residential programs, a 28-day residential program in Palo Alto, a 90-day program in Menlo Park and
180-day homeless rehab program in Menlo Park which is recognized as a National Clinical Center of
Excellence. The VA also has employment programs and a series of specialty services for OIFOEF,
recent Iraq and Afghanistan conflict, case management services, services for traumatic brain injury,
and a suicide prevention team and national hotline. Series of outreach services such as a mobile
medical van and a HVRP Homeless Veterans Rehab Program Outreach services van which travels to
over 100 locations in Northern California, a series of housing resource groups, drop in groups where
veterans can be linked to housing assistance, a call center for homelessness that is open 24 hours a
day. Mr. Grillo stated that the programs that he oversees are the Criminal Justice Outreach Programs.
Incarceration is among the largest predictive factors of veteran homeless. We estimate that 5-10% of
the incarcerated population is veterans. The VA has several initiatives and one is the State and
Federal Prison Outreach Initiative called Healthcare for Re-Entry Veterans and the other is Veteran
Justice Outreach which does outreach to county jails and courts. The VA has the largest treatment
court overseen by Judge Manly and training for law enforcement. Common healthcare needs are the
most common, multiple co-occurring medical issues are common, serious mental health disorders,
substance use disorders and dual diagnoses, and dental issues is one of the top issues for veterans.
It is a challenge to engage the homeless veterans in health care. Approximately half of the veterans
surveyed at the last PIT count were utilizing VA Healthcare Services but many more would be
eligible for the services. There are many veterans who did serve their country in uniform and for
various reasons had discharge status or the lengthen they served is not eligible for care but may are
eligible for services in the county system.
David Rice, army veteran and addiction therapist at HVRP which is a homelessness veteran
rehabilitation program stated that in 2007 he found himself homeless and his contributors were long-
term unemployment and substance use and once homeless it is a daunting task to get out because you
feel hopeless, feel bitter about where you are coming from and then you cannot find a job. From
2007-10 he lived on the street and in a car and was unable to find his way out. In 2009 a Marine told
him to get medical care from the VA hospital in Palo Alto. Veterans do not want to identify as
homeless because they are self-sufficient and highly trained and like most veterans living on the street
he was addicted to drugs and alcohol and ended up in the criminal justice system. After being in and
out of the criminal justice system, the Veteran Justice Outreach told me about a program in Menlo
Park called HVRP. Providing a home is only a small step of getting out of homelessness; there is
behavior, substance use, legal issues, finding a job, and HVRP allowed me a safe place for 6 months
to get a handle on the substance abuse and learn new coping tools. HVRP is a comprehensive
program which provides coping tools, gives you significant tools to help deal with emotions and learn
new relationship skills and allows a safe place so you can look for a job, clear criminal records and
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get help removing state and local legal fees. The VA has a program called Compensative Work
Therapy where you can get a job at the VA for one year which allowed you to find out what skills
you have. While working at HVRP he has found a meaning and purpose that he had in the military
but lacked as a civilian.
Bruce Ives, CEO of InnVision Shelter Network (IVSN, a services provider for homeless people from
San Mateo and Santa Clara County with 17 facilities that stretch from Daly City to San Jose and
about 1,000 people sleep under their roofs per night.) Mr. Ives stated that out of nine of their larger
shelters six caterer to families and across the range of services IVSN sees veterans and serves
veterans. At the Maple Street Shelter in Redwood City there are 75 beds which 25 are vets and the
program director is a vet. Haven Street is one of the largest family shelters in San Mateo County and
1/3 to 1/2 of the families there have a head of household that is a veteran. The Montgomery Street
Shelter is largest individual shelter in San Jose with 85 beds and there are certain beds set aside for a
medical respite program for medically fragile veterans coming out of the VA hospitals so they do not
get discharged into homelessness. At IVSN’s large individual facility called Julian Street caterers to
people with mental health issues. IVSN has a unique program in East Palo Alto called Veterans
Hotel which is a small house where veterans from the outside of the bay area can stay for 2-4 nights
to get into programs to serve homeless vets and in San Mateo County IVSN runs a motel voucher
program so if you are homeless in San Mateo County and the shelters are full the first step to getting
off the street is to get a hotel voucher. One of the five key takeaways for the summit is this is not one
size fits all and there are specific things that can be done to help veterans overcome homelessness and
get back to stable housing and self-efficiency. InnVision Shelter Network works in very close
collaboration with the VA and there is no federal agency that has more of a focus in combating
veteran homelessness than the VA because the VA are very good partners in a range of issues. IVSN
employs a number of veterans, not just for their leadership quality, but because it provides an
enhanced cultural competency; the fact that there are people working at the shelter that have been
through what our clients have been through helps us provide a better service. The one key factor of
fighting homeless is collaboration. The problem is too big and complex and it is important to
coordinate and collaborate with the VA, HUD, partners in the county and cities, Destination Home,
Home First, Downtown Streets Team and our nonprofit partners. There is a lot of conversation about
resources but often times the questions are framed as either/or. Should it be shelters or permanent
housing, should we focus on vets or civilians what is the priority is it individuals or families? There
cannot be either/or questions, because we have to fight across the spectrum for families and
individuals, we have to build permanent housing and have resources in our shelters to get people off
the street, we have to fight for vets and civilians and if we do that in a collaborative fashion we can
continue to progress that we are starting to see in combatting homelessness.
Eileen Richardson, Downtown Streets Team, Peninsula Healthcare Connection, stated that Peninsula
Healthcare Connection is the medical clinic inside of the Opportunity Center in Palo Alto and
services range from free psychiatric services to stress management classes, Medi-Cal and benefit sign
ups at the SSI clinic by the Stanford Law School. There is a complete full range of services.
Approximately 25 percent of the patients that are served are veterans. Downtown Streets Team was
founded in Palo Alto in 2005 and it is now in seven communities across the country. Seven out of the
ten attributes to health and happiness is having something to do during the day. You must have the
men and women themselves involved in the solution and you really need to motivate the men and
women to want to try again because they have lost all dignity and hope. In 2006 Dr. Don Barr
founder of Peninsula Healthcare Connection did a survey in Palo Alto and asked the homeless men
and women what is some of the biggest issues about being homeless and it was not being cold or
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hungry it was the way people look down at me and we have been trying to be unique and get people
to be part of a team and feel better about themselves again.
Vice Chair Stone asked how do you get veterans more involved in the system? Ms. Richardson
stated that Downtown Streets Team does a unique method of peer to peer outreach so the men and
women become volunteers to clean up their communities in exchange for stipends. Downtown
Streets Team takes care of the basic needs so they can start focusing on themselves. They wear their
bright yellow shirt and turn from a pan handler to someone receiving congratulations from the Chief
of Police for a job well-done. It is a real hard road but if you can put on the shirt and feel like a good
guy in the community goes a long way.
Mr. David Grillo stated that he agrees that the peer model of HVRP veterans helping veterans is
extremely effective. The VA has psychologists and social workers but talking to another veteran who
has had the same experiences will understand and will not need explanations. Getting veterans
together in groups and allowing them to help each other is the biggest way to get them involved in
their own treatment.
Mr. Andrea stated that for many years he felt different from everyone because no one knew the pain
he felt and the survivor quilt that he carried. Early in the recovery from substance abuse a fellow
veteran told him that he needed to attend a certain group so he took him there and as he looked
around a man looked at him and said 11 Bravo and from that time on he did not need to tell his story
because they knew my story. Mr. Andrea stated that it was like someone lifted a 60-pound rock of
his back because there was nothing more effective than one veteran reaching out and helping another
one and sharing their story. It is important when dealing with veterans one on one these folks are not
victims and they are not weak but they have powers that they may have given away. Veterans have
barriers and it is our job to help remove the barriers. It is about removing the barriers so veterans can
get on with their lives. They may feel like they cannot do it themselves but it is our job to empower
them. There are no victims.
Mr. Grillo stated that there are peer support services which are a professional wing of the VA where
veterans receive a certification on how to clinically engage with fellow veterans on a professional
level. The VA has peer support services, including HUD VASH, where a peer will go to a veteran’s
home to assist them from being homeless to the point where they are housed and engage the veteran.
How do we engage veterans? The first thing is that veterans need to understand that they are veterans.
Often times they may have served in combat but do not understand that they are veterans. There is a
terminology language that is very common that someone is not a veteran even though they served in
combat so the VA has learned to ask the question if they have ever serviced in the United Stated
Armed Forces. The VA has done some studies in the California prison system during booking it is
asked are you a veteran and the response rate is about half of the actual number of veterans.
Vice Chair Stone asked how could all of the people in this room better help your agencies succeed?
Mr. Ives stated that it is a complex problem and it is a worry that the complexity of homelessness
overwhelms people. People get homelessness fatigue. People who want to unlock this tremendous
wealth in the Silicon Valley want to focus on the shining new thing. The biggest moral challenge in
this valley is housing our neighbors and keeping them housed, and we must all come together
whether it is supporting nonprofit groups through donations, lobbying our elected officials,
convincing our neighbors to support more ballot measures to build affordable housing, whatever that
can be done to move the ball forward. We have to stay engaged because if we give up things will
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start sliding backwards and because we are making progress and it is important to keep the
momentum going.
Mr. Rice stated that it is about collaboration. The problem is not going to be solved by local, federal
and private agencies doing things on their own. In the military everything is done in collaboration
and in forums where people are talking is what is going to change the problem.
Mr. Grillo added that this is a problem that is going to continue as long as there is a housing crisis in
Silicon Valley. Within our ten county catchment area homelessness has ended by 40 percent in the
last 5 years that the VA has had an initiative to end homelessness. The percentage is vastly different
than what is going on in Santa Clara County which is a huge challenge because of the housing
market. The more solutions that can be created together and the more partnerships that can be
formed, the more creative and persistent over time he think it can make a huge impact in the county.
Colonel Malachowski stated that earlier Mr. Andrea tried to define what a veteran looks like. A
Vietnam veteran looks like Mr. Andrea and a combat veterans looks like me. If the two of us were
walking down the street no one would ever point us out and say that we are veterans. In the media
they talk about the 1 percent that has served their country and sometimes it can be a divisive number
but you need to understand that the 1 percent comes from the 99 percent. Veterans are from Palo
Alto, Omaha, from big cities and small cities, men and women from every ethnicity and religion, gay,
straight, and we just love our country. Ms. Malachowski added that between Rex and Dave she is
proud to be a part of your tribe and what she would love for is for them to have her challenge coin.
Corey Friccero, Veterans’ Outreach Worker, GoodWill Silicon Valley, Santa Clara County and San
Benito County stated that he has experienced when meeting homeless veterans on the streets that he
can give them hope but a lot of the times he have issues getting them housed. The question is for
InnVision Shelter Network and HomeFirst that there are waiting lists involved and the homeless fall
off the map because he sends them to shelters and they do not get in that night and then do not hear
from them again. It is important to look at emergency shelters because if someone is willing to go to
a shelter that night they should be able to go in that night.
Sandu Bir replied that she would like to talk about the strategies that are in place right now and what
strategies are coming up at the end of this year. Currently at HomeFirst there are many shelter
programs so if one is a veteran they are not going to wait for a space to open up in a HCHV contract
bed. HomeFirst looks for any available space in Santa Clara County for that night and if they cannot
help you they look for any available shelter even if it means driving you there or giving you a bus
token and be your partner with you. It is happening but it is happening very slowly it is taking effect
but one person at a time. At a larger scale they are opening their coordinated entry system through
Santa Clara County and the new HMIS system. Wherever the homeless reach out to there are no
closed doors and through an assessment form find out what are their current needs and place them on
a vulnerability list and all shelter programs can look at the list and based on their needs this is where
they can be placed. The program is first starting with permanent supportive housing but not for
shelters yet but HomeFirst is working toward a solution.
Mr. Ives added that Mr. Friccero described a real challenge that they face every night. On September
15 the Board of Supervisors voted on recommendations from the Housing Task Force with lots of
interesting initiatives but a big chunk of the money is to get the full utilization of shelter beds in all of
the shelters in San Jose to get the homeless off the street. The challenging news is when people come
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into shelters and connect them with services to help get them ready for self-sufficiency and
permanent housing there has to be housing available on the outside for them to exit our shelters.
What we are seeing is the length of time people are staying in the shelter even though they have
connected with services and have jobs and they are ready for stable housing. We have to work on the
big picture to get more affordable housing and permanent supporting housing built so we can move
people through the shelters to open up additional beds to get additional people off the streets.
Mr. Ky Le added that what the Board of Shelters funds five of the largest shelters in Santa Clara
County which are all in San Jose. The shelters can be part of the solution as the part of funding was
set aside and there was also funding set aside for interim housing such as hotels but connected to
permanent supportive housing and rapid rehousing programs. If a client is enrolled in one of the
programs, funding will be made available to provide a place to stay for multiple nights.
Mr. Norman Carroll a disabled veteran, who was unhoused and living in Palo Alto, stated that many
of the unhoused in Palo Alto graduated from a Palo Alto high school. They get stigmatized by being
called homeless because it makes them not belong where they live and with the veteran community
feels burned by the system. Is there a way to get the stigma and burn out of the system?
Mr. Rice replied that it is a common feeling but veterans need to remember they created some of the
problem themselves because things may not have gone well in the service or after the service, but
they also created something. Helping a veteran find a way to accept their part of the responsibility
and accept what they contributed to and providing them a help up because it is not about giving them
a hand out but it is about a help up.
Mr. Paul Hebert, Project Sentinel stated that in talking to renters or people who want to rent that there
is a dearth of places that will accept the voucher. Does any of your programs educate existing
landlords that it is actually safer than you imagine housing a veteran that has support.
Mr. Jennifer Loving replied that rolling out a campaign that educates landlords on what the benefits
are in renting to landlords because there are financial incentives. In a few months there will be a
package for landlords to offer incentives with 24-7 connectivity on the phone if something is going
sideways with a tenant but also money for repairs, extra security deposit money, renters insurance
which are things that have not been traditionally offered for housing people.
Ms. Sandu added that there is currently a supportive services for veteran families that provides nine
months of rental assistance, including security deposits, temporary financial assistance for a plethora
of issues including car repair, childcare, to obtaining employment or benefits so a landlord knows
when a veteran is housed through a SSVF program that they are not only getting someone to rent to
them but is getting a team which provides supportive services that really promotes stability.
Ms. Loving asked if SSVF can pay market rate? Ms. Sandu replied that they do not have to follow
fair market rate values so they do pay for market value which is equal to the housing opportunities
available as long as it is affordable for a veteran family and after the assistance ends the veteran
family can sustain that level of livability. There are veterans that are currently housed that are paying
$2,900-$3,500 a months but with their combined income after the program ends will be able to
sustain the housing.
Ms. Jennifer Loving added that one of the biggest lifts from the federal government is the VASH and
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Section 8 being at market rate. The affordability is low at $1,500 which is so much lower than the
market is, but we cannot patch the subsidies and there is local money but it cannot be layered because
it hurts the tenant and that is something that if there could be assistance it would be a remarkable
transformation.
Ms. Penny Barrett stated that she her take away from Eileen Richardson, David Rice and Alex
Andrea was that as a citizens of Palo Alto we are not all landlords and not all have deep pockets but
we can look at anyone on the street in the eye and cherish them that no one is left behind.
Mr. Ken Horowitz stated that he is a Vietnam Veteran and is currently living in Palo Alto and is
interested in dental issues for veterans. There are two local dentists in Los Altos that do pro bono
work on Veteran’s Day so let us encourage all dentists to do free dental work for veterans. There are
800 homeless veterans in Santa Clara County and over 2,000 dentists. I encourage everyone to ask
their dentist to provide free dental care on Veterans Day.
Commissioner Alhassani stated that it concludes the program and wanted to thank everyone for
coming. The HRC is happy everyone attended the summit but it is step one in the process. The goal
of the summit was to activate our community, and we are making progress.
ADJOURNMENT
1. The meeting adjourned at 4:15 pm