Name: Coronavirus: Serving the newly poor in Silicon Valley’s wealthiest neighborhoods
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Coronavirus: Serving the newly poor in Silicon Valley’s wealthiest neighborhoods

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CUPERTINO, CA - JULY 30: Sarah Abon, who has been living in her car for three years, walks back to her car as a West Valley Community Services volunteer, Kenny Ngo, carries a bag of food for her on July 30, 2020, in Cupertino, Calif. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group)COVID-19 is pushing Bay Area residents out of their homes and onto the streets — even in some of Silicon Valley’s wealthiest neighborhoods.With a median income of $116,178 and a poverty rate five and a half points lower than California’s 12.8 percent, one might not think to look in wealthier neighborhoods like Cupertino for signs of extreme poverty as a result of the pandemic.But West Valley Community Services, the sole social services provider serving low-income communities in Cupertino, West San Jose, Los Gatos, Monte Sereno, and Saratoga, said at a news conference Thursday that it has been struggling to meet a 500 percent increase in demand for food and financial support for housing since the pandemic hit.“Emotionally, COVID-19 was hard. Financially, it’s a huge burden,” said Majid Amjadi, a former San Jose restaurant worker who was laid off in February. Amjadi said he wonders how he and his wife will make it through COVID-19 with a roof over their heads.Before coronavirus hit,&nbsp;about 22,000 people lived in poverty in the West Valley, according to West Valley Community Services executive director Josh Selo. Though the non-profit doesn’t have a precise estimate, Selo says that number has probably increased since. Yesemia Torres, who has lived for almost eight months at a homeless encampment on Wolfe Road in Cupertino, says some people there are now forced to share their tents with newly homeless people who have nowhere else to go. The city of Cupertino does not have a homeless shelter.“A new woman showed up just yesterday, crying,” Torres said. “It was her first night outside.”Though the pandemic has exacerbated the existing housing crisis in the West Valley, where Zillow lists the median home price at $1.5 million in West San Jose and $2.9 million in Cupertino, the struggle is nothing new. Between 2017 and 2019, Cupertino’s homeless population grew by 25 percent, to 159 people.“That’s the problem with Silicon Valley: we don’t have a sufficient stock of housing opportunities,” said Selo. “So what’s the result? People get pushed out.” Now, with some pandemic-related eviction bans expected to lift in August, Selo is concerned about an incoming wave of homelessness.To respond to the growing demand, West Valley has launched a campaign to raise more than $2 million to improve services, remodel its on-site food pantry and replace its old mobile one, and provide more food and financial assistance.“The level of desperation is so high,” Selo said. “Formerly employed folks simply can’t fill the wage gap.”PrintThanks for reading!Get unlimited access to enjoy this article and moreAlready a subscriber? LoginView more on

CUPERTINO, CA - JULY 30: Sarah Abon, who has been living in her car for three years, walks back to her car as a West Valley Community Services volunteer, Kenny Ngo, carries a bag of food for her on July 30, 2020, in Cupertino, Calif. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group)COVID-19 is pushing Bay Area residents out of their homes and onto the streets — even in some of Silicon Valley’s wealthiest neighborhoods.With a median income of $116,178 and a poverty rate five and a half points lower than California’s 12.8 percent, one might not think to look in wealthier neighborhoods like Cupertino for signs...

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Laurence Du Sault

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Coronavirus: Serving the newly poor in Silicon Valley’s wealthiest neighborhoods

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