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Advocates warn of cuts to shelter and sexual-assault services as county outlines budget process
Summary
Community advocates told Santa Clara County supervisors that possible 19% reductions to county funding would eliminate key shelter operations and urge transparency on sexual-assault funds; staff summarized the budget timeline and reported early data from Families First demonstration sites.
Advocates and nonprofit staff told the committee they face potentially deep cuts and urged the county to prioritize life-saving services as the board begins its budget process.
Rose Klei, introduced herself as "senior manager with Asian Women Home," told supervisors a 19% reduction in county funding would eliminate county-supported shelter staff and two-thirds of shelter operations, which she said would be "the equivalent of losing 10 emergency shelter beds in Santa Clara County." Melissa Luke of the YWCA said her agency serves about 2,500 survivors of sexual assault annually (37% are children), that bilingual services are at capacity with waits up to two months, and asked for more collaboration and transparency around sexual-assault funding.
Why it matters: County staff said the recommended budget will be released May 1 and workshops are scheduled for the week of May 11, with revised recommendations in June. Staff emphasized the need to prioritize mandated services and explained that behavioral-health changes at the state level complicate county budgeting.
Families First demonstration update
Heidi from the Office of Children and Families Policy provided a progress update on pilot demonstration sites run with the City of San Jose. Initial data show 209 families referred to supports, with 185 accepting referrals; a full report with fiscal-year outcomes is expected in August. Staff said these pilots are intended to build upstream, community-based supports that reduce future system involvement.
Board direction and follow-up
Supervisors asked county staff to provide more detailed budget implications for child-welfare reforms and the CAP extension discussed earlier in the meeting; staff agreed to include relevant materials in the May 19 budget workshop materials. Several supervisors highlighted the difficulty of balancing mandated and discretionary programs and emphasized protecting frontline safety-net services where possible.
What comes next: The county will release recommended budget materials and hold workshops; committee members asked staff to return with more specifics about how potential cuts would affect services and to itemize options for preserving critical community programs.
