Homelessness

Homelessness

Misleading notice scares San Jose homeless residents, may skew headcount

Homeless advocates worry that a misleading cleanup notice has prompted homeless residents along Guadalupe River to leave their camps—days ahead of an important census count. On early Friday morning, San Jose officials and contractors pulled up in trucks at the sprawling encampment along the Guadalupe River Creek near Columbus Park to haul away trash, tents...

‘They’re everywhere’: Rats plague San Jose’s largest homeless camp

At the epicenter of a humanitarian crisis in San Jose where hundreds of people sleep outdoors, another crisis is festering: rats. “They’re everywhere,” Luke Eblieg, an unhoused person living at the sprawling encampment near Columbus Park, told San José Spotlight. “And they are nothing like I have ever seen.” Brown rats are chewing through electrical wires...

Food truck brings hot meals, essentials to San Jose homeless

In an effort to serve more unhoused people, one nonprofit sends a food truck out to encampments to meet people where they are. Dubbed “Hope on Wheels,” the food truck visits at least three encampments every week to bring hot meals and essential supplies such as jackets, tarps and hand sanitizer to unhoused people across the South...

San Jose breaks ground on affordable housing in police parking lot

San Jose officials and homeless advocates celebrated Wednesday as the city broke ground on a new temporary housing project in a San Jose Police Department parking lot. The City Council unanimously approved the prefabricated housing project last October. Officials hope residents will be able to move in by the fall. “It’s not a secret to anyone that...

UPDATE: Santa Clara County supervisors approve millions for affordable housing

Several affordable housing projects are coming to Santa Clara County as officials race to build more homes to address growing homelessness. The Board of Supervisors approved $75.5 million on Tuesday to build six new affordable housing projects—four in San Jose, one in Mountain View and one in Sunnyvale—adding 758 apartments to the South Bay’s housing...

San Jose approves park plan to keep homeless out of flight path

San Jose is moving forward with plans to convert a 40-acre homeless encampment at the Guadalupe River Park in downtown into a recreational site. At Tuesday’s City Council meeting, councilmembers unanimously approved plans to build a prototype park, Guadalupe Gardens, to help prevent homeless camps from popping up again and comply with Federal Aviation Administration...

Santa Clara County COVID spike, rent evictions equal double whammy

As COVID-19 infections spiked across Silicon Valley over the winter, evictions continued to pile up in Santa Clara County Superior Court. The combination is posing challenges for in-person court hearings. There were 234 residential evictions filed in Santa Clara County from December through Jan. 26, as well as 40 commercial evictions. Tenant defense attorneys say the...