Priority One: Fast Action on Homelessness
Yes - I support the Fair Share plan on homelessness!
Act Faster, Follow the Facts, and Make Every Community Do their Fair Share on Homelessness
Matthew Quevedo will focus first and fiercely on ending the era of street homelessness, starting in District 3 and then throughout San Jose. The shame of homelessness costs lives – and much more than that. The cost of “managing” a single homeless person per year can easily surpass $50,000 per year and the consequence of homelessness creates a burden on economic opportunity, with small businesses in particular reporting customers are reluctant to shop in areas where the homeless gather and camp. If we want our downtown and business corridors to thrive, they must be clear of homeless encampments. And Matthew Quevedo believes every neighborhood should be clear of homeless encampments as we work to make San Jose the first city in California to end the era of street homelessness.
That’s why Matthew Quevedo will work with Mayor Matt Mahan every day to implement his Faster Action and Fair Share Plan on Homelessness, based on these key principles:
1
Create basic and decent shelters faster.
We don’t need to spend up to $1 million per door on homeless housing – that will never solve the problem. Instead we should focus on driving down the cost of basic shelter to just 5 percent of that ($50,000) so we can create 20 times more shelter for the same budget (in a fraction of the time). You can literally buy a pre-fab home on Amazon for $25,000 which can be delivered in months. There is simply no excuse for spending $1 million to build homes, which can take many, many years to build.
2
Require people come-indoors as this new shelter comes online and available.
Police and outreach workers should have real-time access to available shelter slots and if one is available they should require homeless people to use it or face citations or fines, which can be paid through community service like picking up trash.
3
Require every community in San Jose to do their fair share, and every city in Santa Clara County and beyond.
We can’t let D-3 become a dumping ground where homeless shelters and services are clustered. We must take care of our own homeless neighbors and require every community in the County and in California to do the same.
4
Declare every commercial corridor in San Jose a no-encampment zone.
Homeless encampments should not be a barrier to creating more middle-class jobs and growing our tax revenue through an expanding economy.
5
Create more opportunities for homeless residents to work their way off the streets with jobs cleaning our streets.
This program must be dramatically expanded which will make our city cleaner faster and give homeless residents the dignity of work and responsibility.
Yes - I support the Fair Share plan on homelessness!
6
Fully and immediately implement Proposition 36
so that individuals who become a part of the criminal justice system are required to seek drug and alcohol treatment after a third offense.
7
Focus on creating more mental healthcare treatment beds and more drug and alcohol treatment slots.
In Santa Clara County health and treatment is the responsibility of the County government and we must make sure that they are fully meeting these responsibilities.
8
Expand proven programs like Homeward Bound
that help people return to their hometowns if there is an adequate caregiver to accept them. Other cities found this program cost less than $1,000 per person (as compared to over $50,000 per year for each homeless resident).
9
Target those people about to become homeless and intervene to keep them in their homes.
It is dramatically cheaper to prevent homelessness than it is “manage” a growing homeless population.
10
Dramatically expand affordable housing
using new tools like more backyard cottages, more shared housing, more workforce housing, conversion of unused commercial space to housing and other ways that create housing that is affordable by design.
11
Create accountability at every level.
Create realistic metrics, track these metrics, and if service providers can’t meet their goals they should not be awarded any new contracts unless they improve.
