Silicon Valley’s largest city continues to wrestle with a persistent homelessness challenge, despite significant investments in temporary housing and shelter beds. Recent data reveals San Jose now has 6,503 homeless residents, a slight increase from previous years, with approximately 60% remaining unsheltered.

The city has been actively developing new housing solutions, including four temporary housing sites that have added 524 beds over the past year. These include renovated hotels, modular housing, safe parking sites, and transitional housing locations. Mayor Matt Mahan has been vocal about the need to bring people “indoors immediately” and connect them with essential services.

However, the root causes of homelessness extend far beyond just creating shelter spaces. Experts like Sandy Perry from the South Bay Community Land Trust argue that permanent housing solutions are critical. “People need more than temporary housing,” Perry explains. “They need sustainable, affordable long-term housing options”.

The underlying economic dynamics are stark: nearly 74% of extremely low-income families in Santa Clara County spend over half their income on rent. With more than 55,700 low-income families lacking access to affordable housing, the challenges are systemic and complex.

While the county has helped move over 8,000 people from homelessness to housing between 2023 and 2025, structural inequities and wage gaps continue to drive housing insecurity. Ray Bramson from Destination: Home emphasizes that robust prevention systems funded by public and private sources are currently “holding everything together”.

As San Jose confronts this ongoing crisis, the city faces tough decisions about housing policy, investment strategies, and addressing the fundamental economic disparities that push residents into homelessness. The current approach of adding temporary shelter beds, while compassionate, may not be a comprehensive long-term solution to the region’s housing challenges.