San Jose lays out data and costs for 'functional zero' unsheltered homelessness target; staff model finds a multi‑year capital and operating price tag

San Jose housing officials presented a data‑driven assessment and a proposed framework for reducing unsheltered homelessness during the City Council’s budget study session. The presentation introduced a city target number, an inventory of current shelter capacity, and a multi‑year estimate of capital and operating costs for reaching a “functional zero” goal for unsheltered people.

The nut graf: Housing Department staff said the city’s modeling — an analysis that combined point‑in‑time counts, HMIS (the homeless services information system), city outreach tallies and other datasets — estimates about 5,477 people are unsheltered in San Jose today. Staff said the current system of operating shelter and interim beds plus near‑term production (hotels, safe parking, tiny homes) yields roughly 1,871 available spaces; the difference — roughly 3,000 additional spaces — is the quantified gap in the staff model.

Eric Sullivan, the city’s housing director, and his team described three analytic parts: defining demand, cataloging supply, and identifying the gap. The presentation broke shelter supply into county‑run congregate shelter, city‑operated hotel/motel shelter and…