With nearly 10,000 homeless residents sleeping on Santa Clara County’s streets every night, regional leaders say they’re concerned the novel coronavirus could rapidly spread among one of the county’s most vulnerable populations. County leaders have ramped up their efforts to protect the homeless community from a massive outbreak in the South Bay, which quickly emerged as a...
Housing
Housing
Santa Clara County: basic income pilot, Civic Center homeless housing plans move forward
A wide range of residents — from business and nonprofit leaders to aged-out foster youth and property owners — could benefit from Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors’ actions Tuesday. The supervisors approved multiple items related to COVID-19, including plans to start preparing for a reopened economy, a pilot income program for former foster youth...
San Jose eviction bans leave renters more confused than confident
Renters affected by the novel coronavirus in San Jose are triple-protected from evictions through May 31, following city, county and state-passed laws stopping landlords from removing residents for not paying rent. But rather than feel protected, the separate laws have created confusion for many residents and small businesses untangling the details as record numbers of Californians...
Gov. Newsom stops in Silicon Valley to announce motel rooms for homeless
Standing in front of Motel 6 in Campbell, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Saturday announced an agreement with the chain to house the homeless during the coronavirus outbreak, and possibly beyond. This deal is part of Project Roomkey, an initiative Newsom announced two weeks ago, which seeks to identify 15,000 hotel rooms throughout the state for...
Surviving the pandemic: Can’t pay rent? Here’s what you should do
Living paycheck to paycheck works well enough until the paycheck disappears and employees are left scrambling to pay rent. That’s the reality for many Santa Clara County residents who are out of work due to the shelter-in-place restrictions spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic. The immense financial need in Silicon Valley came into focus last month,...
Homeless, advocates protest lack of protections in Silicon Valley shelters
More than a dozen homeless advocates and unsheltered individuals protested at a rally in San Jose on Friday against Santa Clara County’s approach to protecting unhoused people from the novel coronavirus. The county is pushing unhoused individuals into shelters instead of the safer option of sheltering them in hotel and motel rooms, protestors said. It...
Real estate experts talk COVID-19 impacts on tech, government and economy
The coronavirus changed how — and even if — Silicon Valley works following statewide and regional orders to stay home. But real estate insiders say it may change the way employees work long after the outbreak, too. “I truly believe the biggest change coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 will be the downsizing...
Bay Area rental market rates expected to drop due to COVID-19
Even in the pricey Silicon Valley market, rents are expected to drop as tenants across the country settle into stay-at-home mandates that have upended their finances amid the coronavirus crisis. Market-rate Bay Area rents saw the slowest start of the season since 2017, rising 2.3 percent compared to last year, landing at an average monthly...
Reports detail Silicon Valley’s housing crisis pre-coronavirus
As the stock market plunges, so may the real estate market. The coronavirus pandemic will shatter San Jose’s ambitious plans for housing growth over the next two years, some officials said. “We absolutely need to build more housing and we’re not going to make our target (of) 25,000 homes by 2022,” San Jose Councilmember Pam...
San Jose homeless struggle to get necessities during COVID-19 shutdown
Everyone has been affected by the region’s stay-home mandate, but those in San Jose without homes say the order has left them without ways to meet their basic needs. Four homeless residents and several homeless advocates spoke to San José Spotlight this week to share how the shelter-in-place order, which went into effect March 17,...