San Jose officials will now give homeless residents 15 minutes to pack up their belongings, avoid cutting their tents and provide ample notice in multiple languages before sweeping encampments, elected leaders decided this week. The San Jose City Council on Tuesday approved revised guidelines for homeless sweeps as part of a new agreement with the...
San Jose homeless families living in cars receive new shoes
It started with a single pair of shoes. A student in North Carolina cut holes in his sneakers in an attempt to extend their usefulness after he outgrew them. His school nurse took a picture of the battered footwear and sent it to her husband — sparking an idea. After receiving the text message, John...
Santa Clara County receives over $21 million for homeless housing
Santa Clara County will receive more than $21 million in federal grant funding for homeless housing programs, county officials announced Friday. The funding is part of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Continuum of Care (CoC) Competition. The award includes more than $1 million in new federal funding for housing assistance and supportive services...
Silicon Valley advocates talk about discussing homelessness with kids
Scary. Dirty. Drunk. Those are some of the words that a classroom full of children used to describe homelessness, said Andrea Urton, who leads the nonprofit HomeFirst, which runs the largest shelters in Silicon Valley. “One child said ‘AIDS’ once,” Urton said. Urton says it’s critical for communities to change the conversation around homelessness to...
Six years later, Winchester Ranch Mobile Home Park closure continues
Six years after receiving word that the Winchester Ranch Mobile Home Park is closing to make way for luxury housing, the park’s residents are still uncertain about what’s next or when they’ll need to move out of the 111-unit senior community. “It came as a major shock to us when we woke up and we heard that the park...
A night on Route 22: ‘Homeless riders’ fear loss of overnight bus
Less than half a mile away from the gates of the platinum-plated campus of Stanford University – the hotbed of Silicon Valley riches – a group huddled around a dimly-lit transit station and shivered in the bitter cold. They held their oversized backpacks close to them, trying to stay warm despite their hoodies, beanies and gloves. It...
San Jose homeless residents near Coyote Creek escape rising waters
As heavy rains battered San Jose early Thursday, city officials mobilized an emergency response team to warn residents along the Guadalupe River to evacuate from flash floods, but some homeless residents camping at Roosevelt Park along Coyote Creek say they were left behind. Many of those unhoused individuals — some of whom lost everything during...
San Jose lawmaker asks: What does it cost to build affordable housing?
Just a week after the San Jose City Council approved spending millions of dollars on five affordable housing projects, Councilmember Johnny Khamis wants to know: “Are we really getting the biggest bang for our buck?” Khamis on Wednesday proposed studying the costs of building affordable housing in San Jose at a council committee meeting, saying the city is...
San Jose teacher housing a hot topic at SJUSD meeting
As the housing crisis intensifies, the San José Unified School District is pushing a plan to build new “teacher housing” as a means to offer district employees below-market rate homes — but not everyone is on board. Residents, teachers and education advocates packed a SJUSD board meeting Thursday to debate the proposal to move existing...
Why does San Jose sweep homeless encampments?
Elizabeth Piña lost her blanket, a pillow, bikes, cookware and food — pretty much everything she owned — the last time authorities cleared her homeless encampment and tossed her stuff in the trash. It’s happened before. “Where do we go to place our belongings?” Piña, 56, asked. “Where do we have to live?” She said...