Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer
Helping the Homeless: Barry Del Buono, executive director of the Emergency Housing Consortium, stands outside the agency which is headquartered on the outskirts of Willow Glen. The agency runs homeless shelters throughout the South Bay.
WG nonprofit involves community in its fight against homelessness
Independence Day events will benefit Emergency Housing Consortium agency
By Kate Carter
Willow Glen, one of San Jose's more affluent communities, is also home to the Bay Area's largest provider of shelter and services for its homeless people.
The Emergency Housing Consortium's main shelter and administrative offices are located off Curtner Avenue just east of Highway 87. The facility has a 95125 mailing address and its administrators hope Willow Glen and other area residents understand the importance of what it does.
In case they don't already, the nonprofit organization is inviting them to two events this Independence Day, with proceeds going to the shelter. More important, though, says organization spokesman Maury Kendall, is the increased attention the events draw to homelessness in one of the world's most affluent regions.
"When we talk about homelessness in Santa Clara County, we're talking about a very unique phenomenon: high housing costs, low availability," Kendall says. "Finding a job is not the problem. Almost half in our emergency shelter are employed. That would not be the case anywhere else in America."
The shelter is the beneficiary of the Concert for the Homeless on July 3, from 4 to 10 p.m. at downtown San Jose's Discovery Meadow in the Guadalupe River Park. The event's second year features an all-female line-up headlined by '80s rock band The Bangles. Food, drink and crafts vendors will also be present, as will attractions and activities for children.
The shelter is the beneficiary of the San Jose America Festival on July 4, from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., also at Discovery Meadow. The free festival will have three stages for 20 performers throughout the day and food, crafts and family activities. The grand finale will be a fireworks show above downtown.
This is the eighth year that the 20-year-old nonprofit organization has benefited from the July 4 festival, Kendall says. When it first began having the event, the organization's staff was only beginning to realize its importance in the Bay Area, and demand for their programs continues to rise, he says.
The Emergency Housing Consortium has 11 programs throughout the county, including emergency shelters, cold-weather shelters, family living centers, transitional housing and permanent affordable housing--more than 1,000 beds every night for more than 3,000 people each year, Kendall says. It also provides outreach, health, education and job training services and referrals, serving more than 12,000 people every year, he says.
The award-winning organization receives funds from federal and local grants and private donors. It depends on 1,500 volunteers and needs more every year. It also needs financial contributions--which are preferred--and in-kind donations. The nonprofit has an $8 million budget this year and another $12 million for planned capital expenditures.
"We're in an expansion mode right now. We have to be. There's just not enough of any of us around," he says of all the homeless shelters and agencies in the Bay Area.
The service providers find that there are always more people needing a place to stay than they have room for, and when they refer people to each other, "The answer is almost always, we're full, we're full, we're full."
The James F. Boccardo Regional Reception Center at 2011 Little Orchard St. serves as the nonprofit's headquarters and emergency housing for about 250 people at any one time, Kendall says. The site gives beds and meals to homeless men and women on a first-come, first-served basis every night, as well as longer-term units for individuals willing to work with case managers.
Ten families reside at the main center in small converted offices that can house up to five people comfortably. The waiting list for the family units is always about 50 and turnover is slow, because families have 90 days to use the "homes" to try to get back on their feet. The agency plans to begin construction of 10 more family units at the main center this fall.
Kendall says the agency is trying to dispel the myth that homeless people are usually older white men, who have substance abuse problems, mental illnesses or are veterans. Those people do exist, he says, but most of the organization's clients are people with service industry jobs whose paychecks don't cover their bills. And, he says, those jobs are still in high supply, as the Bay Area continues to have one of the nation's lowest unemployment rates, even with the recent economic slowdown and widely publicized high-tech closings and layoffs.
Other agency clients include the elderly, the infirm, people physically or mentally disabled, parolees and others, who are not benefiting from social services.
"The people in shelters are the same we've been dealing with since the beginning of the housing crisis, 10 years ago," he says.
The Bay Area's homelessness rate is equivalent to that in other major cities throughout the country, Kendall says. Willow Glen's rate of homelessness is "about the same as any other urban location in the Bay Area," Kendall says, but in Willow Glen, "it's next to invisible. There's a strong mix of the working poor, low income families and a small intermingling of the traditional transient population."
Some of Willow Glen's homeless are youths, about a dozen of whom often spend time on the corner of Lincoln and Minnesota avenues, Kendall says.
"They are often throwaway kids rather than runaway kids," he says. "They don't fit into the neighborhood's self-image, but they're the products of the neighborhood."
He says many of them find ways to get shelter going from friend's home to friend's home--"couch-surfing" or "garage surfing"--or living in their vehicles.
Kendall says the reasons why many people remain in the valley even though they can't afford to live here are the expense of moving, their familiarity with their home community and the relative ease of finding a job. The only way to alleviate the region's homelessness, he says, is to build more housing that those in low-paying jobs can afford.
Most new housing is available only at-market or above-market rates, Kendall says, such as the 451-unit development planned for the now-defunct Kmart site on the corner of Southwest Expressway and Fruitdale Avenue. He adds that, although rental prices are falling as many high-tech workers look for cheaper places or leave the area, most of the change is happening in the higher-end complexes; low-earners are still scrambling to find cheap apartments and homes.
Kendall applauds Mayor Ron Gonzales' and the city council's efforts to build 6,000 new low-income units by 2004, as well as putting $10 million in the city's 2001-'02 budget for extremely low income families. He thinks that the city should take a closer look at the possibilities of increased rent control measures, even though the long-term economic implications of rent control are uncertain.
"I don't think San Jose can rest on its rent control laurels," Kendall says. "It's too weak. Rent control as practiced in other places--New York, Boston--doesn't exist here."
Kendall acknowledges that "putting a roof over somebody's head doesn't always cure somebody's homelessness," which is why the organization also offers programs for people who need extra help. But housing is the answer, he says, and the willingness of communities to welcome low-income housing would contribute to the end of homelessness in Silicon Valley.
That's what next week's events are all about, he says. The agency doesn't expect to bring in more than $10,000 from the two days, "but we still come ahead, if we're able to get the message through to the people who come," he says.
Seating at the Concert for the Homeless is limited to 10,000. Admission is $10; children 7 and under enter free. Tickets are available through Tickets.com, Streetlights Records and at the entrance. For more information, call 408.294.2100, ext. 333. To volunteer at the Emergency Housing Consortium, call 408.294.2100, ext. 204. To donate, call 408.294.2100, ext. 406.
Willow Glen, California Since 1992
