Sunnyvale now has a citywide plan for responding to homelessness, the first time the city will coordinate its various programs under one framework. The City Council voted unanimously on Sept. 29 to adopt the five-year Homelessness Response Plan, the Silicon Valley Voice reported this week.

Three priorities, no programs yet

The plan sets three priorities: prevention, temporary housing and community outreach. It does not launch specific programs on its own. Instead, staff will bring individual proposals and their costs back to the council as they are developed. City Manager Tim Kirby told the council the city's commitments are to use approaches that are humane, supportive and effective, spend public money responsibly and measure results.

The council largely adopted the staff framework as written, with one addition. Vice Mayor Richard Mehlinger won approval for an amendment directing staff to seek more funding for prevention after several speakers urged the city to focus on keeping people housed in the first place.

What it could cost

According to the Voice, the full plan could cost more than $40 million, relying on a mix of sources that may shift over five years, including one-time grants and federal money that could be cut. Kirby said the city tries not to start programs it cannot sustain.

RV permits on the November agenda

One of the first proposals to come back will be an RV permit program, which falls under temporary housing and is estimated to cost $715,000 over five years. The council is expected to consider it in November. The idea dates to April, when, as San José Spotlight reported, the council voted unanimously to develop interim housing on city-owned land, a possible RV buyback and permitted parking for oversized vehicles on designated streets. At that meeting, residents and advocates pushed the city to move faster and to consider safe parking lots like those in San Jose and Mountain View, which staff said lacked dedicated funding.

The numbers behind it

Sunnyvale counted 421 unhoused residents in its most recent point-in-time count, down from 624 in 2019, though such counts tend to undercount. Santa Clara County recorded a record 10,711 homeless people in its January 2025 count, according to San José Spotlight. The city says it has built nearly 1,000 below-market-rate homes over the past decade at a cost of $100 million and runs services ranging from a mobile hygiene program to rental assistance and motel-based housing through the nonprofit WeHope.