History/Timeline
In April 2005, San Mateo County started the planning process to prevent and end homelessness. The planning process produced concrete and realistic strategies to address the problem of homelessness in San Mateo County, with the ultimate goal of ending it within 10 years. The Plan is completed. Click here for appendices. The Plan was initiated by the Board of Supervisors and is being coordinated by the Center on Homelessness of the County of San Mateo Human Services Agency.

The Ten-Year Plan to End Homelessness
HOPE (Housing Our People Effectively) is a ten-year action plan that brings together the business, nonprofit, and public sector communities to address the challenging issue of homelessness at its core, rather than manage it at the margins. This plan reflects the Board of Supervisors' goal that housing should exist in our community for people at all income levels and all generations of families -- including those who are extremely low-income or who are homeless. HOPE is based on a belief that we can achieve this goal through proactive, coordinated action and investments in cost-effective initiatives that solve homelessness. Homelessness can be ended, if we can build relationships, consensus, and commitment among key stakeholders to enact a common agenda to house those in greatest need. For key documents related to the planning process, click here. In initiating this process, we are following the guidance of the Interagency Council on Homelessness (ICH), a federal government effort to develop a comprehensive Federal approach to end homelessness. ICH has encouraged communities throughout the nation to develop long-range, outcome driven plans as an effective means to catalyze and guide their efforts to end homelessness.

• All individuals and families deserve safe, accessible, affordable housing.
• When individuals and families become homeless, planning to obtain permanent housing should begin immediately.
• All individuals and families deserve respect and have the right to participate in the development and implementation of an individualized plan to end their homelessness.
• Homeless individuals and families should receive flexible assistance to meet individual and family needs.
• All stakeholders must work as partners to ensure successful, long-term outcomes for individuals and families who are, or who may become, homeless.
• Agencies and entities that serve clients in institutional settings should ensure successful discharges to stable, permanent housing.
• Service and housing must be outcome driven; emphasizing successful outcomes for individuals and families who are, or who may become, homeless.
• Services and housing should be guided by data and research, and must be provided with the goal of achieving the highest standards of practice through continuous quality improvement.

First Year Accomplishments

We are delighted to share the first year accomplishments of Housing Our People Effectively (HOPE), San Mateo County's plan to end homelessness. As we think you'll agree, a great deal of impressive work has been accomplished, but much remains to be done. Preventing homelessness and creating housing in San Mateo County is a daunting challenge. Our continued progress toward ending homelessness depends on the involvement of a broad spectrum of community organizations and individuals. We thank the many people and organizations who have dedicated their time, expertise, and resources. We trust the results presented in this report will further inspire those who have been involved thus far and to even greater action and motivate others to join our efforts.

Hope Reports*

2011 San Mateo County Homeless Census and Survey Report (58 KB)

Appendix 1 Methodology (88 KB)

Appendix 2A Street Count (13 KB)

Appendix 2B Shelter Count (14 KB)

Appendix 2C Combined Count (8 KB)

Appendix 3 Hidden Homeless Next Day Study Data (8 KB)

Appendix 4 Survey Data (32 KB)

Appendix 5 Survey Form (22 KB)

*Reports are in Adobe Acrobat format (.pdf). If you do not have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer, click here to download it for free.