A legal battle brewing in Mountain View highlights the increasingly desperate struggle among RV dwellers to find safe places to live in the South Bay. Last week, the Law Foundation of Silicon Valley, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Disability Rights Advocates filed a class action lawsuit against Mountain View opposing a recent parking...
‘We’re losing everything’: The fight to keep San Jose homeless camp
Federal officials are demanding a 40-acre homeless encampment outside San Jose’s airport be dismantled. Protesters fought back at a rally Tuesday, urging the city to keep the encampment open. But the Mineta San Jose International Airport could stand to lose tens of millions of dollars if it doesn’t clear the homeless camp. Residents are pleading with city...
Water shut off for East San Jose tenants without warning
Tenants at Foxdale Village Apartments in East San Jose went without water for two days after management failed to tell them of a ruptured water main. According to several residents, taps went dry at approximately 7:30 p.m. on Saturday with no notice for when they could expect to bathe or flush their toilets. Mayra Peterson, director of asset...
San Jose boots tenants but offers no help
A lawyer contacted San Jose about several clients living in substandard housing conditions. City officials dragged their feet, allowing the tenants to live in squalor for more than a month — before abruptly kicking them out. San Jose code enforcement officers on Thursday forced 15 to 20 people, including several children, to leave several mobile...
State rent relief program serves South Bay residents
When California started its COVID-19 rent relief program in April with a plan to disburse $33 million in federal funds to San Jose residents, the city and Santa Clara County decided to run their own joint program for extremely low income households. But this hybrid approach creates problems, state officials say. “We have two programs in...
San Jose’s largest emergency homeless shelter closes
Homeless advocates say dozens of people are left without a roof over their heads after South Hall, one of San Jose’s largest temporary COVID-19 shelters, shut down Thursday. City officials have vowed to help find shelter for all the residents through a nonprofit partner. “Some people went to tiny homes,” homeless advocate Shaunn Cartwright told...
This Silicon Valley town is doubling its housing; residents are crying foul
In a town that has barely grown for the last two decades, Los Gatos is looking to add more housing—almost twice as many units as it needs by 2040. Officials are recommending 3,783 new housing units in the next 20 years. That’s a significant 90% increase over the town’s state-mandated housing production goal of 1,993....
San Jose: The second most expensive place to rent in the country
If you earn minimum wage in San Jose, you either need a roommate or a second job to afford market-rate rent. For the 44% of San Jose’s population that rents their homes, this is likely not a surprise. But a new report describes just how stratified the local rental market has become over the past...
Santa Clara County sees increase in value of taxable properties
The value of taxable properties in Santa Clara County rose by 4.6% since last year—showing that the pandemic’s economic impact had a limited reach. “This was not a normal business cycle,” Santa Clara County Assessor Larry Stone told San José Spotlight. “This was a self-imposed recession, based upon the health crisis.” The total value of...
Records show history of neglect at destroyed San Jose landmark
Before the H.G. Wade Warehouse in Alviso burned down last month, it suffered through a decade of neglect and failed attempts to transform it into a usable structure. San José Spotlight reviewed hundreds of pages of enforcement investigations and emails obtained through a public records request documenting the city’s fruitless attempts to keep the building from falling further into...