Housing

Housing

State law may overshadow San Jose affordable housing policy

A controversial policy that could make affordable housing more attainable is coming back to the San Jose City Council—but it might be a moot point if a similar policy is passed at the state level. The Community Opportunity to Purchase Act, or COPA, is a policy that would give qualified nonprofits first rights to make an offer...

San Jose expands police patrol on walking trails

San Jose police officers will soon routinely patrol an area that once was the city’s largest homeless camp in an effort to help revitalize the region. The San Jose City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to spend $400,000 to expand the successful police bike patrol program to cover the Guadalupe River Trail in addition to the...

San Jose: The No. 1 U.S. city in youth homelessness

San Jose tops the list of 100 major cities with the highest number of homeless young adults per capita, highlighting a growing crisis in the region. In the heart of Silicon Valley, there are nearly 85 homeless residents who are between 18 and 24 years old for every 100,000 residents, landing San Jose in the...

How will new law affect San Jose development?

City councilmembers, builders and lobbyists in San Jose may need to keep closer tabs on free-flowing donations thanks to a newly expanded state conflict of interest law. With California Senate Bill 1439 in effect since January, local elected officials cannot vote on a project or permit for one year if they accepted more than $250 from the developer...

Santa Clara County sued for missing housing plan deadline

Housing advocates are taking Santa Clara County and several cities to court for their lackluster efforts in new housing amid an ongoing crisis. Californians for Homeownership, California Housing Defense Fund and YIMBY Law filed 12 lawsuits this week after numerous Bay Area cities and Santa Clara County failed to submit plans on how to achieve state mandated...

Santa Clara signs off on thousands of new homes

The Santa Clara City Council took its state mandated housing goals right down to the wire before approving an eight-year plan. Councilmembers voted 6-1, with a no from Vice Mayor Kevin Park, earlier this week to approve the city’s housing element and amend the General Plan. The state requires every city to develop a plan that...

San Jose plans affordable housing for foster youth

San Jose is greenlighting two housing projects that would provide 145 apartments for low-income residents and youth transitioning out of the foster care system. The San Jose City Council voted 10-1 Tuesday to approve a $16.8 million loan for an 81-unit affordable housing project at 1510-1540 Parkmoor Ave. Newly-appointed Councilmember Arjun Batra cast the lone dissenting vote. The...

Chinese developer starts selling San Jose projects

A China-based real estate firm whose co-founder was recently arrested in connection with a bribery scheme is selling off a premier residential development site in San Jose, while the fate of two others is still unclear. The former Greyhound bus station site at 70 S. Almaden Ave. in downtown San Jose, owned by Z&L Properties,...

State housing law fizzles in San Jose

One year after a state law aimed at increasing housing supply went into effect, the destruction of single-family neighborhood character that many of the bill’s opponents raised alarms about has not yet come to pass. Senate Bill 9 effectively ended exclusionary single-family zoning statewide, allowing homeowners in some long unchanged neighborhoods to subdivide their lots...

Will San Jose’s homeless count be higher than last year?

Hundreds of volunteers are searching San Jose streets to get an updated count of its homeless population. Across Santa Clara County, roughly 300 volunteers, elected officials and unhoused people ventured out in 30-degree weather Tuesday morning to scour under bridges, along creeks and outside businesses to tally up homeless people living in the region. The...