There’s a lot of noise coming from local media regarding the comparative costs & benefits of differing D3 and SJ homelessness solutions.
So let me don my accountant’s cap, and I will summarize the key points we all need to remember.
1.) Large-scale structures are the fastest way to get shelter to the homeless. Months instead of years.
If you view our homelessness crisis as, in fact, a crisis–and that it requires an urgent response–large scale congregate shelters are clearly the quickest way to get our homeless neighbors out of their unsafe living conditions. Large shelters take a few months to get up and running, Tiny homes–about two years. And Permanent Supportive Housing can take four-to-eight years depending upon funding sources and construction time.
2.) Permanent Supportive housing is substantially more expensive to build than interim housing, and there’s a difference in cost between the interim housing solutions.
Compare the numbers on–fixed cost:
- Permanent Supportive Housing: between $750K-$1.2M per unit.
- Tiny homes: between $55K-$175K per unit.
- Large-scale structures: between $20-$30K per bed.
Let’s be clear, I am tallying up fixed one-time costs and not including ongoing support services and maintenance costs which are common to all interim and housing solutions. These costs are more variable and harder to generalize by project, but I will be pursuing that issue in future communications.
Net-net:
If you want an answer now, and want the most cost-effective, near-term solution, large-scale interim shelters are the way to go.
I would like to call out Erik Solivan, SJ’s breath-of-fresh-air new Housing Director, as he has done exceptional work presenting the data on this issue to the Council and public, I recommend everyone who has the time to check out his presentation at the 2/11/25 Council Study session (housing starts on page 55).
For those of you who want to dive into the numbers with me, check out my long-form Medium Financial Analysis on this issue, with expanded data analysis. Comments welcome.
Forward with accurate data,
Irene
Above photo from the Spotlight Forum at the San Jose Women’s Club
Campaign update:
- Short clip from San Jose Spotlight Forum
- SJDA Forum – Irene answering all of the tough questions.
- If you’ve been waiting for yard signs, let us know:
- Get Involved — Donate, Volunteer, Yard Signs
- Our next forum 3/12 at SJSU
- And ICYMI – The Merc profiles our D3 campaign
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Irene Smith for San José City Council D3 2025, FPPC# 1477385