Increasing food security for Silicon Valley's most vulnerable populations.
To that end, it is imperative that we find ways to help the most vulnerable among us achieve optimal health. To ensure this, in March 2016, we released Food for Everyone, an assessment of healthy food access among low-income seniors and individuals that are homeless in San Jose.
The findings from this report have led to the development of new efforts to make food accessible for the aforementioned populations.
In March 2016, we released Food for Everyone, an assessment of healthy food access among low-income seniors and individuals that are homeless in San Jose. This report led – and continues to lead – to the development of new efforts that make food accessible for low-income older adults living in affordable housing and recently housed individuals in permanent supportive housing.
According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 22% of renters in Santa Clara County– over 60,000 people– are paying more than half of their income on rent. Such figures paint a stark picture. Communities here in Silicon Valley, from families with children to older adults, face an impossible trade-off between paying rent and spending money on other necessities like food, healthcare, and transportation.
The Health Trust Food for Everyone strategy is guided by growing evidence that promoting housing and food security together helps to break the cycle of poverty and poor health outcomes. We also know that if you’re struggling to pay for housing, you’re more likely to be food- insecure. That is why we’re creating food access points at affordable housing sites, where we can reach more people at high risk of food insecurity, all in one place.
We’re leading the effort by partnering with our region’s most innovative food access providers– Second Harvest Food Bank, Valley Verde, and Loaves & Fishes– and working with individual housing sites to design food programs that work for their residents. Whether grocery deliveries, congregate meals, Meals On Wheels, or community gardens, our work ensures residents have a food access point right where they live.
We also worked with the City of San Jose Housing Department to make food access a matter of policy. In the fall of 2018, the City of San Jose adopted new guidelines for what design components and services need to be included in new City funded housing developments.
For the first time, the guidelines state that new housing developments with a minimum of 30% of units dedicated to permanent supportive housing must include physical design elements and a service plan that support the access and distribution of healthy food. By addressing food access needs during the design and construction phase, the policy change makes it easier for service providers and their safety net food partners to provide onsite food access in a way that best supports the nutrition and health needs of residents.
Our goal is for everyone who lives in affordable housing in Santa Clara County to be food-secure.
With the passage of Measure A, a recent affordable housing bond, Santa Clara County plans to increase the number of affordable units by approximately 6,000 over the next 10 years, with over half dedicated to permanent supportive housing. Individuals in permanent supportive housing receive a range of supportive services to promote housing stability and self-sufficiency.
The Health Trust is working with supportive service providers in Santa Clara County to ensure that food assistance is integrated into the services they provide their clients. We are also working to build the evidence base for food in permanent supportive housing settings, such as a pilot project out of The Health Trust Jerry Larson FOODBasket that builds nutritional support into intensive case management services for Health Trust permanent supportive housing clients.
