A transistor radio, a portable analog device with an antenna, is Mir Sayed’s connection to the world. The 93-year-old lives in a motel room in Sunnyvale and spends his days listening to his radio. He’s visually impaired, suffering from glaucoma and cataracts, and is hearing-impaired. Sayed’s housing situation is unstable and part of the longstanding issue...
San Jose struggles to reduce homeless count
San Jose’s unhoused population is not as big as initially reported, but the number of chronically homeless people continues to grow, new county data shows. A report released last month shows San Jose with 6,650 homeless people in 2022—a drop of roughly 100 people from when preliminary data was released in May. Despite the drop, the current homeless...
San Jose businesses frustrated by homelessness
Reza Farahani immigrated from Iran more than 20 years ago and opened his Lincoln Glass & Mirror business on Kruse Drive in North San Jose. He moved down the block a decade ago when his company expanded, but said in the last two years the surrounding neighborhood has become untenable because of rampant homelessness. Dozens of...
Storm displaces San Jose homeless living along creeks
Geraldo Garcia had 10 minutes to pack his belongings, scramble into a car and leave his makeshift shelter near Coyote Creek. The threat of flooding from an unprecedented atmospheric river storm gave him barely enough time to grab his essentials. “I’m sad. I’m desperate. I really don’t know where to go,” Garcia said, who’s been living...
San Jose secures $3M for homeless housing sites
San Jose is using its slice of a $1.7 trillion federal spending package to address ongoing homelessness. South Bay congressional leaders Ro Khanna, Anna Eshoo and Zoe Lofgren have secured more than $3 million to fund case management, food services and security at two different temporary housing sites in San Jose—the SureStay Hotel and Marbury Bridge...
These projects could reshape Silicon Valley next year
As San Jose and Silicon Valley further emerge from the effects of the pandemic, development on major projects continues to move forward across the region. Here are some of the notable developments and policies to keep an eye on in 2023: Google’s Downtown West project The largest development in San Jose’s history, Google’s 80-acre Downtown West...
Hundreds of San Jose families face eviction
Days before Christmas, Zayna Herring, her 4-year-old son Alex and her roommate sat in the courthouse in downtown San Jose, worried they’d soon be homeless. “It’s a lot of stress,” Herring told San José Spotlight. “Everything takes money, and that’s what we don’t have.” Herring, a single mom working two jobs while attending college full-time,...
Related Santa Clara developer to appeal decision over wages
A development firm worth $60 billion intends to challenge a state decision that it must pay prevailing wages to workers on its massive project planned for Santa Clara. The $8 billion Related Santa Clara project, from New York City-based firm The Related Companies, benefits from public subsidies granted by the city. Therefore, it’s considered a public works...
San Jose plans hundreds of homes on church land
Hundreds of affordable homes are poised to be built at a Christian megachurch in central San Jose. Mayor Sam Liccardo on Thursday announced plans for an affordable housing complex in the parking lot of Cathedral of Faith on Canoas Garden Avenue. The project, developed by Sand Hill Property Company, includes 237 apartments across two buildings on a 13.4-acre parcel. Liccardo...
Hundreds of people died on Silicon Valley streets in 2022
As 2022 comes to a close, advocates are remembering the 246 homeless people who died on Silicon Valley streets. About 70 residents gathered in McEntee Plaza at Santa Clara County Government Center in San Jose Wednesday for a memorial service featuring rows of makeshift tombstones, each with the name of a homeless person who died...