Nonprofit Community Services Agency (CSA) has seen a 70% increase in homeless people using its services since 2021 as the organization navigates potential decreases in federal funding.
CSA provides food and social services to thousands of residents in Mountain View, Los Altos and Los Altos Hills, and after helping 630 people in 2021 through its homeless services program, the number rose to 1,150 last fiscal year and is approximately 1,063 this year, a sustained increase that strains the organization’s resources.
CSA Development Director Simone Berkowitz said the organization tends to see more vehicle dwellers rather than people who live on the street and many of them are employed. Since Measure C banned oversized vehicles, including RVs, from parking on city streets that are under 40 feet wide in 2020, CSA has seen a shift from RV dwellers to more people living in smaller vehicles. Berkowitz noted CSA was not seeing an influx of people from other places in the Bay Area, but instead local people unable to afford the rising housing costs in its coverage area.
“It’s really just a matter of lack of affordable housing and the general increase in the cost of living, which has caused this increase in our unhoused clients and our vehicle dwellers locally,” Berkowitz said.
While its other program numbers have remained steady, there has been a slight increase in some of its senior needs due to growth in the overall senior population and increased isolation within that portion of the community.
Previously approved federal government funding cuts and current proposed cuts will also harm CSA’s ability to serve the community. CSA Executive Director Tom Myers has previously said the organization faces reduced funding for food and senior programs due to federal cuts expected to affect Santa Clara County services, as well as local organizations like CSA.
“We are concerned with the cut to our resources because of the situation with the federal government,” Berkowitz said. “We don’t have a huge portion of our budget that is funded that way, but we are seeing cuts in food funding, senior services and homeless prevention.”
Berkowitz noted that financial support from donors has buoyed the funding shortfall, with many in the community seeking to take positive local action. However, the boost isn’t considered a long-term sustainable solution.
“That is all positive for us in terms of maintaining our funding levels, but we don’t know how long that can continue,” Berkowitz said. “We’re hoping the overall situation improves so we don’t have to keep going back and asking our donors to make up those shortfalls.”
