By Khalida Sarwari
A Santa Clara County provider of homeless services held a memorial in San Jose today honoring the lives of 61 people who died on the streets this year.
Various elected leaders and members of the community read the names of the men and women, ranging in age from 35 to 69 years old, who died on the street, or in emergency or transitional shelters.
This year, there were 10 more than in 2010, said Jenny Niklaus, CEO of EHC LifeBuilders, the nonprofit that hosted the memorial.
“Each of these people is worthy of being honored. They were our neighbor, they were our sibling, they were our child,” Niklaus said at the memorial event today.
EHC LifeBuilders holds the memorial each year to remember the humanity of those who have died and to bring renewed awareness to the struggles the homeless population face.
A county homeless census and survey found that on any given night, there are about 7,000 people sleeping on the streets. The long-term chronically homeless make up 36 percent of the homeless population.
Last month, the county opened three homeless shelters that will provide 365 emergency beds each night through the end of March.
The shelters, in Gilroy, Sunnyvale and San Jose will open at 6 p.m. and will allocate beds on a first come, first served basis.
Earlier this year, the county launched the “Destination: Home-Housing 1000” initiative, which aims to move 1,000 homeless people into permanent housing by 2013. As part of that effort, EHC and county officials will be working to register and prioritize homeless individuals based on their health and time on the street, and move the most urgent cases into permanent housing with support services.
Today’s event, held in conjunction with National Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day, also recognized county Assessor Larry Stone with the Jim McEntee LifeBuilder Award for his efforts in helping to end homelessness.
