In Winter 2026, a Santa Clara University Capstone team conducted research to determine to what extent supportive housing residents within SCC are food insecure and how this can be addressed by the County and connected non-profits.
Although Silicon Valley is one of the wealthiest areas in the nation, the average rate of food insecurity is 19.3%. Among residents of supportive housing sites, which are shelters for unhoused communities, high rates of food insecurity persist at approximately three times the expected level (Parpouchi & Somers, 2019). Santa Clara County (SCC) has 3,832 temporary housing beds, which can support about 1/3rd of unhoused people in SCC. However, providing shelter alone is insufficient. Despite the known overlap between housing and food vulnerability, little integrated research has examined how these vulnerabilities exacerbate one another. This study aims to provide the data needed to encourage Santa Clara County to adjust its policies and better fund meals in supportive housing, so residents can access high-quality, culturally relevant food. Further, this research aims to create a base framework to improve sustainability, equity, and access to the SCC food system through the following objectives:
Evaluate the food security status and preferences about local food sourcing of supportive housing residents in SCC.
Compare different food supplier models of food sourcing, distribution and funding, alongside assessing what methods are successful in decreasing food insecurity at the supportive housing sites that they serve.
Identify barriers to improving and proposed solutions to the current state of the food system in relation to food suppliers and supportive housing sites.
The findings highlight the importance of diversifying county funding to better support food system stakeholders, particularly non-profits sustaining this network despite limited support. By conducting interviews and surveys with supportive housing residents, housing managers, and food supplier representatives, we hope to present our findings to policymakers to advocate for changes to food system policy in relation to supportive housing sites across the County. When both food and housing insecurity are caused by poverty, it is clear that they must be addressed in tandem.
