Silicon Valley Triage Tool

Building on the findings of the Home Not Found: The Cost of Homelessness in Silicon Valley report, Destination: Home and the County of Santa Clara released the Silicon Valley Triage Tool in 2016. The Triage Tool utilized 38 pieces of information to predict future public costs, providing a fair, objective methodology for determining which individuals should have immediate access to permanent supportive housing.

Read the report: Silicon Valley Triage Tool: Identifying and Housing High-Cost Homeless Residents

Demonstrating the Power of Coordinated Assessment

The Silicon Valley Triage Tool – the most accurate of its kind at the time – unlocked key insight into how best to prioritize the scarce resource of supportive housing and demonstrated how a consistent, community-wide intake process can serve as a means to providing critical, lifesaving interventions to the most vulnerable in our community. And it helped pave the way for the development of a Countywide coordinated assessment system in Santa Clara County. Today, our Supportive Housing System utilizes the Vulnerability Index-Service Prioritization Decision Assessment Tool (VI-SPDAT) to assess the situation of all homeless individuals and families, identifying the best type of housing intervention to address their situation. This coordinated process improves access to service for those experiencing homelessness and informs better utilization of limited public safety net resources.