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San Mateo County has named Amy Davidson head of its Center on Homelessness, which coordinates homeless services throughout the county. The county also announced that the center was elevated to a division of the county’s Human Services Agency at the time of Davidson’s appointment, according to a press release on Thursday, Feb. 20.
Davidson, who has over two decades of experience in housing, sees her role as bringing people with different ideas together to solve a crisis that defies jurisdictional boundaries.
“We know that housing ends homelessness,” said Davidson, who started in the role in January, in a prepared statement. “What I hope to be able to do is support more housing opportunities for people who are homeless and what role the Center on Homelessness can play in that. … What strikes me is that San Mateo County seems super collaborative and people are trying to do their best and work together. I think that’s a real strength.”
During its “One Day Homeless Count” in 2024, San Mateo County found 2,130 people experiencing homelessness, an increase of 18% since the last count was conducted in 2022. The county has been working toward reaching a “functional zero” of homelessness, where “every unsheltered homeless person in the county who chooses assistance can be sheltered in an emergency shelter or in temporary or permanent housing.”
Claire Cunningham, director of the Human Services Agency, said in a statement that the center “has matured into the nerve center of the county’s efforts to achieve functional zero homelessness.” She noted that the county still lacks housing options for clients once they leave the shelters. This is, in part, due to the high cost of living in the Bay Area.
Davidson holds a bachelor’s degree from Brown University and a master’s degree in Housing and Urban Development from Harvard University, according to her LinkedIn profile. She spent over 18 years working for the city of Berkeley, including as deputy director of the Department of Health, Housing & Community Services, according to the press release. Prior to that, she was a housing planner and project manager for housing organizations.
Davidson described how she once worked at a hotel ballroom with mats and blankets on the floor and what sparked her interest in permanent supportive housing.
“I met a lot of elderly and seriously mentally ill people who I understood were going to be living in the shelter for the rest of their lives,” she said. “It’s great if it’s an alternate to being outside but I didn’t want people to spend the rest of their lives sleeping on the floor on these mats.”
County’s homelessness efforts
San Mateo County has several initiatives aimed at combating homelessness. Its Navigation Center in Redwood City opened in April 2023, providing 240 temporary living spaces for unsheltered people, along with on-site support services such as trauma counseling, substance use treatment, and health and dental care, a first for a San Mateo County non-congregate shelter, the county said.
The Board of Supervisors also adopted an ordinance, dubbed “Hopeful Horizons: Empowering Lives,” in early 2024, which prioritizes providing people with services and shelter before kicking them out of encampments on public property in unincorporated areas.
In April 2024, the county secured $14.1 million in one-time funding from the state to expand its homeless services. The county plans to use the funds to aid chronically homeless individuals in transitioning to permanent housing.
