Record Homeless Deaths, Advocacy Groups Claim

SAN JOSE, CA -- The Community Homeless Alliance Ministry and Serve the People San Jose will be hosting a news conference Wednesday protesting what they say is the recent discovery of a record number of homeless deaths in the county -- 158 -- since Dec. 1, 2017.

According to Pastor Scott Wagers of CHAM, the all-time high number increased over the previous record of 135 deaths that was set in the same timeframe between 2016-2017. Wagers said the recent record is a significant increase over the 1999 count of 33 homeless deaths.

"I was shocked when I heard it," Wagers said. "I thought it might been have gone down."

Wagers points to what he considers a huge housing shortage coupled with high rents that have led to what he said is an out-of-control death rate.

"The rate at which they build housing isn't enough," he said.

The news conference will be held at 10:30 a.m. on one of the properties that Google recently purchased for its proposed downtown San Jose Google-plex, at 510 W. San Fernando St.

"If you want to do something, do something for the homeless," Wagers said of the recent sale of the land to the tech giant.

--Bay City News/Image via Shutterstock