San Jose officials have zeroed in on the city’s first location for a sanctioned encampment, where homeless people will be allowed to stay inside tents without fear of being swept. The lot at 1157 E. Taylor St. could open early next year, with more safe sleeping sites opening by next June. The locations will house between...
San Jose sweeps Columbus Park after homeless return
Emotions ran high at a homeless encampment near a San Jose park as the city began sweeping the streets that unhoused residents called home. Two years ago, the city cleared the sprawling homeless encampment near Columbus Park that sits under the flight path of Mineta San Jose International Airport, after the Federal Aviation Administration threatened...
San Jose hotel for homeless residents fails to meet needs
Last year, a renovated San Jose hotel on The Alameda reopened with much fanfare to house homeless residents. But problems have cropped up from the start, according to people who live there. The city tapped nonprofit HomeFirst to provide supportive services and supervision of residents at the Arena Hotel, which was repurposed as a low-barrier...
San Jose tiny homes construction faces ongoing delays
Over the next 18 months, San Jose may see four tiny home sites built, offering hundreds of beds to help people living on the streets transition to permanent housing. But getting there remains a challenge. Mayor Matt Mahan wants to add 784 beds between the end of 2025 and beginning of 2026 to tackle the...
Sunnyvale replaces homeless outreach provider
Sunnyvale will have a new outreach team assisting its homeless residents after scrutinizing the city’s previous provider. The Sunnyvale City Council unanimously approved a more than $900,000 one year contract with homeless service provider WeHOPE earlier this month. The contract begins Sept. 1 and includes a five person outreach team and the organization’s Dignity on...
San Jose sees safe sleeping sites as option for homeless residents
As San Jose develops plans for sanctioned homeless encampments, Mayor Matt Mahan traveled to San Diego to see what he could glean. San Diego, at the forefront of safe sleeping sites for unhoused people in California, has two sanctioned locations that support a total of 533 insulated tents. The locations provide on-site case management and resource referrals, restrooms,...
San Jose homeless advocates protest Newsom’s state order
As Gov. Gavin Newsom pushes for local governments to take swift action to clear homeless camps, local housing advocates are standing together against policies they say criminalize being unhoused. Members of Helping Hands Silicon Valley, Unhoused Response Group, CHAM Deliverance Ministry and NAACP San Jose/Silicon Valley gathered Friday at a former encampment, once known as...
Santa Clara County, cities fail to file homeless shelter reports
Tavia Jones felt so unsafe at the Sunnyvale homeless shelter that she would risk being found by her abuser on the streets to avoid living in a facility where she said she was treated as less than a human. For years, shelters in Santa Clara County have been rife with violence, theft, mistreatment of residents...
Lack of West Valley homeless shelters prompts action
James, an unhoused Campbell resident, has a hard time trekking to the closest shelter in San Jose roughly 5 1/2 miles away. He avoids shelters, preferring to move around, but would go to a safe one if any were nearby. “I’m surviving right now, I’m surviving,” he told San José Spotlight. “(I’m) getting stuff I...
‘Very dirty’: Sunnyvale homeless shelter residents raise sanitation issues
Homeless residents at the North County Shelter in Sunnyvale say a shift in management has heightened sanitation problems and workers are unequipped to handle older adults living there. Two residents of the Santa Clara County-owned shelter told San José Spotlight there are numerous unhygienic issues, including pests such as rats and scabies — in addition...