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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...
Life inside a cramped van: A look at San Jose’s safe parking program
Joe Castro has been homeless on and off his entire life. Now, Castro, his wife, Donna Slaughter, and their three children are living inside a cramped van, using the backseat to sleep five people and the front seat as a “kitchen” while they get back on their feet. “It’s hard because our kids go to...
Santa Clara County pegs $25 million for first-time homebuyers
Owning a home in Silicon Valley might seem like an impossible goal for most working families. With average home prices in San Jose now exceeding $1 million, according to Zillow, elected leaders fear the dream of home ownership might be out of reach for nurses, teachers and public safety officers. But a new program, presented...
Santa Clara approves first-of-its-kind housing with urban farm
A farmer’s market in your backyard? The newest trend in urban agriculture is a big hit across the United States that has both millennials and seniors agreeing: Sign me up. The “Agrihood” development plan, a farm-friendly housing project focused on building residential communities around urban farmland, was unanimously approved by the Santa Clara City Council...
Dozens hit the streets for San Jose homeless count
The usually quiet San Jose roads were taken over at 4:30 a.m. Tuesday morning by 115 people scouring the city, looking for homeless residents to count as part of the two-day Santa Clara County Point-In-Time homeless census. At this hour roadways are generally steady moving without congestion, and most homeless people sleeping on the streets have...
Struggling seniors hit hard by Silicon Valley housing crisis
When Manny Escarega began caring for his ailing mother six years ago, the 57-year-old moved into her home and was forced to put his search for employment on hold. But when she died, his brother rented the house to strangers, leaving an unemployed Escarega to fend for himself on the streets. Six years later and...
San Jose homeless crisis: This is where they sleep
Underneath your highways. On your sidewalks. In their cars. San Jose is home to more than 4,300 homeless residents. And when the lights go out in Silicon Valley, this is where the unsheltered homeless population sleeps. Rosalie Carrillo sleeps on the dirt beside a sidewalk near Story Road. She got hit by a car and...