Temple Emanu-El Hosting Interfaith Village
by Janet Phinick, Sisterhood President, Temple Emanu-El of San Jose House Women’s Shelter
Village House is a rotating exness interfaith shelter supported by several religious assemblies throughout Santa Clara County. It serves as a place of hope and refuge for 15 emotionally and physically vulnerable women who would otherwise be living in the streets. Temple Emanu-El has joined the team of shelter partners. In December, Temple Emanu-El will provide a warm, safe place for our women “guests” to sleep, eat and bathe. Emanu-El is looking for volunteers to help make this program a success. Our guests will be spending nights at our facility, receiving meals, taking showers, and helping out with some of the clean-up duties. During the day, we will be accompanying our guests a short walk away at a neighboring congregation, Holy Redeemer Lutheran Church.
Village House was born nearly two years ago out of an opportunity to help those in need in our community. As the housing crisis escalates in San Jose, the need to find viable and sustainable solutions for those that are under housed and homeless increases. Every two years, San Jose and Santa Clara County send out teams of volunteers to conduct an arduous census of our homeless. The number of people living in the streets has stabilized in Santa Clara County and is actually decreasing slightly (15%), based on census data. However, the severity of homelessness has increased significantly. Duration of homelessness spanning five years and longer is becoming more common in the Bay Area with 35% considered chronically homeless (increasing 20% since 2011 – from 45% to 64%). Longer periods of living in the streets impacts exness south africa health and shortens lifespans.
Local government has been working with the Village House and others to change laws and ordinances to pave the way for more programs designed to reach the population of under housed and homeless. They also try to reach those in our community that fall into the “low income” underemployed and non-working demographic that feeds into the homelessness population. Many of the homeless people in the streets have jobs, families or get some kind of government assistance for income loss or food. There are several programs in place that offer housing under one roof for a large number of homeless in “Drop-In Centers.” Warehousing humans in large open rooms is not the answer. Temple Emanu-El doesn’t believe this is humane living for anyone.
The sheer volume of homeless people in our area is daunting, with numbers nearing 7,000 in Santa Clara County and 4,500 in San Jose itself. Village House may not reach a large population of those living in the streets, but it does hope to set an example of how helping just a few women can make a huge impact in their lives. Village House is establishing a realistic model of what it takes to carve out a segment of the population for further expansion to other segments. To understand whether this approach is feasible, it is necessary to break down the population of homeless from the census. 33% of the population is living in the streets. 33% of those are newly homeless. Those that have been homeless more than twice in one year was recorded at 19%, the same percentage of people living in encampments. The most startling statistic is the 64% that have been homeless for over a year. A whopping 48% of Santa Clara County’s homeless population has been displaced four or more times in the past three years. That means at least every three months for the past three years, they have exness broker review had to relocate and readjust to new surroundings.
If Village House expanded to five locations a year, it could serve 150 women. With this math, in less than three years, we could reduce the number of homeless women living in the streets.
Several of our guests have graduated from Village House and moved on to rented rooms and secured employment. IHOP has made the commitment to hire Village House guests. We are engaging with other employers to partner with our program, too. This type of work is a step toward full independence, a process that takes time and patience. Because Village House is a partnership of congregations, we have housing resources for temporary or long-term rentals. This is the fruit of months of multiple faith organizations working together to make our community a better place to live and set an example for other communities to support others less fortunate with dignity and compassion.
If you have questions about how our program operates or how to volunteer, please visit https://www.villagehousesccca. com. You can also reach out to 408.997.5111 or 408.615.1605.
Village House was born nearly two years ago out of an opportunity to help those in need in our community. As the housing crisis escalates in San Jose, the need to find viable and sustainable solutions for those that are under housed and homeless increases. Every two years, San Jose and Santa Clara County send out teams of volunteers to conduct an arduous census of our homeless. The number of people living in the streets has stabilized in Santa Clara County and is actually decreasing slightly (15%), based on census data. However, the severity of homelessness has increased significantly. Duration of homelessness spanning five years and longer is becoming more common in the Bay Area with 35% considered chronically homeless (increasing 20% since 2011 – from 45% to 64%). Longer periods of living in the streets impacts exness south africa health and shortens lifespans.
Local government has been working with the Village House and others to change laws and ordinances to pave the way for more programs designed to reach the population of under housed and homeless. They also try to reach those in our community that fall into the “low income” underemployed and non-working demographic that feeds into the homelessness population. Many of the homeless people in the streets have jobs, families or get some kind of government assistance for income loss or food. There are several programs in place that offer housing under one roof for a large number of homeless in “Drop-In Centers.” Warehousing humans in large open rooms is not the answer. Temple Emanu-El doesn’t believe this is humane living for anyone.
The sheer volume of homeless people in our area is daunting, with numbers nearing 7,000 in Santa Clara County and 4,500 in San Jose itself. Village House may not reach a large population of those living in the streets, but it does hope to set an example of how helping just a few women can make a huge impact in their lives. Village House is establishing a realistic model of what it takes to carve out a segment of the population for further expansion to other segments. To understand whether this approach is feasible, it is necessary to break down the population of homeless from the census. 33% of the population is living in the streets. 33% of those are newly homeless. Those that have been homeless more than twice in one year was recorded at 19%, the same percentage of people living in encampments. The most startling statistic is the 64% that have been homeless for over a year. A whopping 48% of Santa Clara County’s homeless population has been displaced four or more times in the past three years. That means at least every three months for the past three years, they have exness broker review had to relocate and readjust to new surroundings.
If Village House expanded to five locations a year, it could serve 150 women. With this math, in less than three years, we could reduce the number of homeless women living in the streets.
Several of our guests have graduated from Village House and moved on to rented rooms and secured employment. IHOP has made the commitment to hire Village House guests. We are engaging with other employers to partner with our program, too. This type of work is a step toward full independence, a process that takes time and patience. Because Village House is a partnership of congregations, we have housing resources for temporary or long-term rentals. This is the fruit of months of multiple faith organizations working together to make our community a better place to live and set an example for other communities to support others less fortunate with dignity and compassion.
If you have questions about how our program operates or how to volunteer, please visit https://www.villagehousesccca. com. You can also reach out to 408.997.5111 or 408.615.1605.