Gilroy, a 60,000-person city at the southern edge of the Bay Area, remains rooted in agriculture with orchards, canneries and a famed garlic festival. The city has more than 17 unhoused residents per thousand people, a rate higher than Oakland and nearly double San Francisco. Local resources to confront homelessness are far smaller than in larger neighboring cities, leaving economic and social challenges underfunded. Nonprofit leaders describe the situation as the worst in the county with minimal financial support. Historically, agriculture and immigrant labor sustained local livelihoods and housing affordability for many residents.
At the southernmost edge of the Bay Area, Gilroy sits nestled between the tree-covered Santa Cruz Mountains and the rolling golden hills of the Diablo Range. The city of some 60,000 people is surrounded by fields and orchards, and on summer nights the smell of garlic hangs in the air - reminders of its deep agricultural roots and its world-famous festival.
But behind that agrarian beauty lies a sobering statistic: Gilroy has one of the largest homeless populations in the entire region. While it trails cities many times its size, when measured proportionally, the direness of Gilroy's homelessness plight becomes clear. It has more than 17 unhoused residents per thousand residents, according to a Mercury News analysis of available California Department of Finance and county data. That is more than Oakland, nearly double that of San Francisco and more than twice that of San Jose.
Gilroy confronts many of the economic and social challenges around homelessness familiar to communities throughout the Bay Area, yet it does so with only a fraction of the resources, an analysis of city resources and demographics found. "We've got the worst situation in the county and the least amount of financial support for it," said Tim Davis, the executive director of the Gilroy nonprofit South County Community Services. "That's the biggest problem." From farming hub to Silicon Valley's 'bedroom' Located near the southern end of Santa Clara Valley, Gilroy was for decades one of the most significant agricultural hubs in the state, becoming a prolific producer of prunes and, famously, garlic, and hosting fruit and vegetable canneries. Together, these industries employed much of Gilroy's population throughout the early to mid-20th century and attracted a diverse group of immigrant laborers, including those from Italy and Mexico.
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