Dear Community Partners,
In 2015 Destination: Home released Home Not Found: The Cost of Homelessness in Silicon Valley, the largest and most comprehensive body of information in the United States to analyze the public costs of homelessness.
Today, Destination: Home, along with the County of Santa Clara and Economic Roundtable, are building off of our previous work by releasing the Silicon Valley Triage Tool. The Silicon Valley Triage Tool is a new and highly accurate screening tool capable of predicting high cost users in our public safety net system and allows communities to prioritize them for supportive housing. The Triage Tool identifies local homeless residents who have the highest probability of being long-term, high-cost users of public systems. Worse, if these vulnerable men and women remain homeless, their public service costs are estimated at $56 million a year.
Targeting those who are suffering the most has the double benefit of avoiding unnecessary costs and providing permanently supported housing for highly vulnerable individuals. As we already know, Permanent Supportive Housing will continue to be a limited resource until the number of people needing housing equals the housing supply.
Forecasting the future costs of homeless residents means critical, lifesaving interventions can be provided to the most vulnerable in our community. Using the Silicon Valley Triage Tool means communities can spend less resources while achieving better outcomes. Further, the Silicon Valley Triage Tool is public, meaning it will be available to any jurisdiction interested in using this predictive modeling to solve homelessness in their community.
Thank you to the Mercury News for covering the release of the Silicon Valley Triage Tool and its potential impact on our system of care.
Special thanks go to the Destination: Home Leadership Board, the County of Santa Clara, Economic Roundtable, The Health Trust and the Office of Supportive Housing for their partnership, dedication, transparency and commitment in making this important research not only available but operational. Using this data means more efficient systems, better outcomes and less suffering – and that’s success for both the individual and the system of care.
We look forward to implementing the tool in the coming months and working together to house our most vulnerable residents.
In Partnership,
Jennifer Loving
Executive Director, Destination: Home
