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Local lawmakers are racing to build more emergency housing amid a growing homelessness crisis, but where these sites will go is still undecided. A pair of Santa Clara County officials want to use vacant or underutilized lots for a new temporary housing or safe parking site. The plan is to replicate the Casitas de Esperanza...
San Jose increases homeless camp cleaning efforts
San Jose residents and elected officials are frustrated with the buildup of more than 200 homeless encampments. The city plans to clean up some of them by next spring. The San Jose City Council reviewed the city’s ongoing encampment management policy on Tuesday. City officials will come back with a plan to identify encampments across the...
In Silicon Valley, college students see hardship through COVID-19 pandemic
This story is being co-published with The Imprint, a national news outlet covering child welfare and youth justice issues. College students have long gone hungry and slept in their cars in Silicon Valley, one of the wealthiest enclaves in the nation. But many of the young people pursuing higher education this year face obstacles that...
UPDATE: No fence around San Jose homeless camp — for now
Faced with the tough choice of building a giant fence to keep homeless people out of a public park, San Jose lawmakers took no action — despite an upcoming deadline to clear the encampment. The controversy centers around a 40-acre encampment at the Guadalupe River Park in downtown San Jose where nearly 200 homeless people...
San Jose business leader floats big ideas about homelessness
One of San Jose’s largest business groups wants homeless people off its streets, and here’s it’s pitch to make that happen. San Jose Downtown Association Executive Director Scott Knies floated the idea of creating a social services team to focus on the homeless population. “What is clear to all of us in the trenches is...
San Jose District 10 residents petition to house homeless elsewhere
San Jose residents near a proposed emergency interim housing site at Branham Lane and Monterey Road want the 176 units to be built elsewhere. The site, which is currently a homeless encampment, has long been a source of tension in the neighborhood. It’s one of several proposed sites awaiting Project Homekey funding. The city-owned housing...
San Jose housing on highway cloverleafs might not be a lucky charm
As San Jose scrambles to find new sites for homeless housing, its latest idea might leave residents scratching their heads—using extra land by highway on-ramps or cloverleaf interchanges. “We have to be very creative,” Mayor Sam Liccardo said at a housing news conference earlier this month. “We’re going to try to find that land in every...
San Jose business group floats fee for homeless trash solutions
Fed up with trash and vandalism downtown, one San Jose business group wants to lobby the city and county to help with its cleanup efforts. Scott Knies, executive director of the San Jose Downtown Association, a consortium of businesses located in the heart of the city, floated what he calls a “clean community fee” on...
Some skeptical of San Jose’s plan to ‘end’ homelessness
Santa Clara County has a lofty new goal to “end” homelessness by 2025 but some unhoused residents aren’t convinced. The effort, called “Heading Home,” is part of a multipronged approach by Santa Clara County, San Jose, the Santa Clara County Housing Authority, tech company Cisco and homeless policy nonprofit Destination: Home—some of the region’s biggest...
UPDATE: Homeless housing site coming to San Jose police headquarters
San Jose’s quest to find more affordable housing sites has brought it to approve an unorthodox piece of real estate: a San Jose police parking lot. The San Jose City Council unanimously approved Tuesday a prefabricated housing project in a parking lot at the San Jose Police Department headquarters along Guadalupe Parkway. It will include...