Some San Jose homeless residents could soon have a job that pays nearly $25 an hour. That’s the announcement that came from Mayor Sam Liccardo Thursday after he expanded the San Jose Bridge program, an initiative that employs homeless residents to pick up trash. The expansion will make room for up to 100 unhoused workers across...
State opens more funding for Santa Clara County supportive housing
When Charlotte Burris first called the Santa Clara County Office of Supportive Housing to get out of the van she uses for shelter, there were only spaces for unhoused residents with COVID-19. Burris said she tested positive shortly after calling and received temporary housing, describing it as a gift in disguise. “I’ve been homeless for...
Santa Clara County approves affordable housing for ag workers
South Santa Clara County is home to mushroom farms and fields of garlic. Now the area will house the workers who tend them. On Thursday, Robert Van Tassle, operations manager of Countryside Mushrooms in Gilroy, picked up some personal items from the site of what was once Royal Oaks Mushrooms in Morgan Hill. He worked there for...
UPDATE: San Jose approves high-rise office towers
Woz Way is getting a makeover in the form of a pair of high-rise office towers—and the project is right at the city’s height limit. The Almaden Office Project, led by developer Boston Properties, will be built on a 3.57-acre parking lot on the corner of South Almaden Boulevard and Woz Way. The San Jose...
Local nonprofit helps house residents of North San Jose encampment
Getting dozens of homeless residents shelter and services isn’t easy, especially when it has to happen in a matter of weeks. But HomeFirst CEO Andrea Urton said it’s doable when you have the right resources. Residents last week were forced to leave a massive homeless encampment at Component Drive in North San Jose on land...
San Jose tenants allege management kept COVID hospitalization quiet
Raymond Ramsey says he never relies on his property manager to share details about other tenants—because they often don’t. But he’s baffled that he learned about a recent COVID infection in his building through the local gossip mill. Ramsey, a former unhoused resident, moved into Santa Clara County’s first supportive housing complex, Second Street Studios...
San Jose to transform park alongside homeless encampments
The city plans to transform the dilapidated flatlands at Columbus Park in North San Jose into a premier public park and plaza—complete with playgrounds, sports fields and rest areas. But the “elephant in the room” is the presence of more than 200 homeless residents. The land surrounding Columbus Park is a sanctuary for unhoused people—and a...
Fire hazards keep popping up at San Jose apartment complex
A fire-prone apartment complex in East San Jose has repeatedly received warnings about missing and defective smoke detectors and other fire hazards for years, according to city records. On numerous occasions, code enforcement officials flagged missing and non-functioning smoke detectors and carbon monoxide devices at Foxdale Village Apartments, a low-income apartment complex owned by KDF Communities that’s been the...
Former San Jose theater one step closer to office conversion
Years after the Camera 12 movie theater in downtown San Jose shut its doors, the project promised to replace it is now one step closer to construction. Local development firm Urban Catalyst, which purchased the property in 2019, recently obtained a building permit for the 100,000-square-foot project. The firm also received a $56.2 million senior construction...
How did housing homeless San Jose students in Airbnbs go?
Two years after launching a landmark program to house homeless San Jose students in Airbnb rooms, nearly half the participants dropped out of the program and ended up in hotels. The program, officials say, took major blows from COVID-19 and other logistical problems. Sparky Harlan, CEO of the Bill Wilson Center that helped run the program,...