Morgan Hill homeless census plummets

The numbers of Morgan Hill residents without homes has dropped significantly, while Santa Clara County’s homeless population increased over the past two years, according to a county report released July 18.

The 2019 “Homeless Census and Survey” conducted county-wide in January and February showed a 71 percent decrease in the number of people without shelter in Morgan Hill, from 388 to 114. In the county as a whole, the number of homeless residents soared to 9,706, from 7,394 in the last census, taken in 2017, the highest in over a decade. Soaring housing costs were cited as a major factor in the increase.

The biennial homeless surveys are required of all jurisdictions receiving federal funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to provide services for the homeless.

In Morgan Hill, all reported homeless people were without shelter, living on the street or in vehicles.

In the county, more than four in five persons experiencing homelessness—82 percent—were “unsheltered—living in places not intended for human habitation.”

In the latest county count, a total of 269 families consisting of 921 individual family members were homeless, about 9 percent of the total homeless population. That is a decrease from 2017, when 15 percent of the county’s homeless population were in families.

The majority of families experiencing homelessness in the county were sheltered at the time of the survey—74 percent—a slight increase from 2017.

Financial problems—job loss, high rents, low income— were the most common reasons for people to have lost their housing.

More than one-third of the survey respondents indicated they were experiencing homelessness for the first time, with a recent job loss cited as the most common reason for their situation.

When asked what might have prevented them from becoming homeless, the top answers were rent/mortgage assistance and employment assistance.

The biggest obstacles to obtaining permanent housing were the affordability of rent (66 percent), lack of a job (56 percent) and lack of available housing (40 percent).

Nealry 80 percent of homeless people with jobs reported incomes of less than $1,500 per month, an improvement over the 2017 survey, when 88 percent reported monthly incomes of less than $1,500.

“There are still many challenges to overcome in achieving the goal of eliminating homeless in Santa Clara County,” the county said in its report.

Nearly 20 percent of homeless people were under the age of 25, according to the report. Eight percent were under the age of 18.

In the countywide survey, more individuals identified as males, 62 percent, than females, and more as white, 44 percent, and African-American, 19 percent, than others. Nearly half of the homeless people, 43 percent, said they were of “Hispanic/Latinx origin,” which is much higher than the general population, at 26 percent.

Of the survey respondents, 19 percent reported having lived in foster homes; 27 percent said they had spent one or more nights in prison or juvenile detention in the past year.

Just 22 percent of the countywide respondents were living in a public shelter. Of the “unsheltered” population, 34 percent were living outdoors in streets, parks or encampments, 18 percent were living in vehicles, and 13 percent were living in “structures not meant for habitation.”