Individuals coming out of jail have few resources to help them integrate back into society. Santa Clara County officials want to help change that. The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors recently approved a potential guaranteed basic income program for former inmates. The program’s financial feasibility will be discussed at the county’s budget meeting in...
Bramson: Breaking voter promises might destroy San Jose’s affordable future
When San Jose voters approved the Measure E real estate transfer tax increase in 2020, the mandate was clear. The revenue generated by the new ballot measure from the sale or purchase of property worth more than $2 million would go directly to addressing the lack of affordable housing in our community. It was a...
San Jose opens homeless housing site in police parking lot
Dozens of homeless residents will be able to get off the streets, as new interim housing opens near the doorstep of the San Jose Police Department. The Guadalupe Emergency Interim Housing site, located on a former SJPD parking lot, opened Wednesday. Housing advocates and elected officials said it’s the latest project in the city’s attempt to...
Bramson: The propaganda behind denying someone a home
There was a time in the not so distant past when the topic of homelessness was not the soup du jour of so many council chambers, community meetings, and letters to the editor. The issue has always been around, of course, but the intense focus on what we are or aren’t doing to meet the...
San Jose housing director to retire
Jacky Morales-Ferrand never thought her work in housing would span three decades, and she never imagined what that would entail coming to work for a city more than three times the size of Boulder, Colorado. Morales-Ferrand, who’s worked as the director of housing for San Jose since 2015, oversaw a paradigm shift in how the...
15 women who broke barriers in Silicon Valley
San Jose was once known as the “feminist capital of the world”—paving the way for women to enter politics and hold other positions of power usually reserved for men. And while the region still struggles to ensure equity for women, especially in tech, women have shaped San Jose’s rich history and continue to do so...
San Jose loans millions to build affordable apartments
San Jose is chipping in $25 million toward an affordable housing project proposed just south of downtown, which officials and advocates said is desperately needed as the city struggles to provide homes for its lower-income residents. The San Jose City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved loaning $21.35 million to Berkeley-based affordable housing nonprofit Resources for Community Development to...
Should San Jose require nonprofits to register as lobbyists?
Like corporate lobbyists, nonprofit leaders meet regularly with San Jose officials to influence policy decisions. But nonprofits, which are often awarded millions in city contracts, don’t have to disclose their meetings like other lobbyists. San Jose prides itself on its “sunshine” laws, a series of policies adopted in 2008 that require lobbyists to register, pay a fee and...
Bramson: Investments that pay guaranteed dividends
With the recent failure of Silicon Valley Bank, I find myself reflecting this morning on the fragile web that makes affordable housing possible. SVB was a leader in lending to deeply affordable developments across our region and its exit means one less reliable anchor point in the complicated web of resources that makes a project...