By Khalida Sarwari
Four men recently died in Santa Clara County of hypothermia. One of them was 48-year-old Andrew Greenleaf, whose body was found Dec. 5 alone in a cold garage on Orchard Road in Saratoga.
Greenleaf was one of four homeless men who died within a week of unusually cold weather. The day he died, temperatures dipped to as low as 30 degrees.
The other men were in their 40s and 50s and were living in San Jose. They had another thing in common, according to Claire Wagner, a spokeswoman for EHC LifeBuilders.
“All four deaths were really preventable.”
EHC Lifebuilders is a San Jose-based nonprofit provider of services, shelter and housing to the homeless and those at risk of homelessness in Santa Clara County. In response to the deaths, EHC immediately coordinated efforts with various other county and nonprofit organizations on an outreach effort led by volunteers who visited 30 different locations with a high concentration of homeless people and distributed not only items such as sleeping bags, warm clothing and blankets, but also information about the shelters available to them. But some simply were not interested, said Wagner.
Typically, there are two main reasons why people choose not to seek help, she said. Some are reluctant to leave because they establish homes in a certain area where they build a community with others to share resources, such as a generator. Others have pets they don’t want to part with. To address the latter concern, EHC opened a separate room for all pets at the Sunnyvale shelter, Wagner said.
During the cold spell, the county authorized EHC to provide more than double the number of cold weather beds at the organization’s three shelters and to stay open around the clock. The shelters have since returned to normal capacity and operating hours and will remain open through March 31.
The crux of EHC’s work, said Wagner, is providing long-term solutions and working toward ending homelessness once and for all. The organization has been implementing a model called Housing First, where they place folks in Section 8 housing before helping them get back on their feet.
“We’ll find you a home as fast as we can and provide you with services to help get you stable,” she said.
A recent county homeless census and survey found that on any given night, there are about 7,631 people sleeping on the streets. This year’s census showed an 8 percent increase in the homeless population in Santa Clara County over the last two years. In San Jose, the jump was as high as 18 percent. The area has the fifth highest rate of homelessness in America, according to Wagner.
“There are communities across America where homelessness is diminishing,” said Wagner, “and here in Silicon Valley, one of the wealthiest parts of the world, it’s increasing at an alarming rate.”
The high cost of living and soaring housing rates are to blame, said Wagner.
“If you really are concerned about homelessness, you might do what you can to advocate for more affordable housing so people can have a place to live,” she said. “Increasing the supply of affordable housing doesn’t just benefit the homeless; it benefits a lot of low-income people.”
The majority of the homeless–estimated at about 5,000–don’t have shelter at all, said Wagner. Some, like Greenleaf, have some form of shelter, but with substandard living conditions. His situation, Wagner said, “goes to show you that sometimes having a shelter is just not enough to keep you alive.”
“This is just a very sad situation,” Wagner said. “We’re upset and we’re angry, but people don’t have to be hopeless about this. We really do have the solution. We have a very coordinated system of care throughout the county. If we can get the community behind us, we can really make a dent in this problem.”
For more information about EHC Lifebuilders or to learn how to help, visit ehclifebuilders.org. The organization is seeking monetary donations, as well as razors and small toiletry items.
Homeless man is found dead in cold garage on Orchard Road in Saratoga
