When the COVID-19 pandemic fell upon San Jose, some of the most vulnerable were those without safe shelter. For the city’s over 6,000 unhoused residents, emergency transitional housing was needed – fast. In partnership with the City, Habitat East Bay/Silicon Valley built communities where these neighbors could safely self-isolate, live with comfort and security, and access an array of supportive services from partners like HomeFirst and Abode Services. These communities serve not only to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 among our unhoused neighbors, but to help them build a bridge to permanent housing.
"We’re being treated like people - not a statistic, but like real people."
SANDY
Emergency Interim Housing Resident
One participant in a community on Monterey Boulevard knew it was a special place right away. A former teacher, Sandy had experienced homelessness for seven years. Moving between shelters, facilities, and motel rooms, Sandy had survived sexual assault and struggled to overcome addiction. “Once I got here, on day one,” Sandy remembers, “all my thoughts of what happened to me and the places I’d been – they just erased from my mind and gave me that peace that I needed.”