San Jose lawmakers Tuesday voted 8-2 to put a new property transfer tax applying to all properties valued at $2 million or more on the March 2020 ballot, following a heated debate on tax burdening residents and how city funds are used to solve the region’s housing crisis. Councilmembers Johnny Khamis and Sergio Jimenez voted...
San Jose leaders split on how to spend housing tax revenue
San Jose lawmakers on Tuesday are expected to approve drafting an affordable housing tax measure for the March 2020 ballot, but differ on how to divvy up the funds that the tax will generate — a frequent dilemma among a City Council that is often at odds with one another. In a memo to their...
San Jose education leader revokes City Council endorsement
In a stunning move Sunday night, a leading Evergreen education leader revoked her endorsement of San Jose City Councilmember Sylvia Arenas, who is facing re-election in 2020. Evergreen School Board President Bonnie Mace announced she’s withdrawing her support for Arenas and opting instead for a sole endorsement of her challenger Jim Zito, also an Evergreen...
Split San Jose housing vote highlights political divide
Silicon Valley’s biggest business lobby and its largest labor special interest group are rarely on the same side of contentious public policy issues. And last week’s 6-5 vote of the San Jose City Council on a suite of housing policy changes was no exception to that rule. So it’s no surprise The Silicon Valley Organization...
San Jose housing commission questions homebuyer loans, granny unit subsidies
San Jose’s Housing and Community Development Commission on Thursday asked probing questions about two proposals the City Council is expected to consider in the coming months — a down-payment assistance program for first-time home buyers and a subsidy for homeowners who build secondary units or so-called granny units to rent to low-income residents. Five commissioners...
Bill Wilson Center, San Jose State partner with Airbnb to house homeless students
In an effort to make a dent in housing Silicon Valley’s rapidly growing student homeless population, the Bill Wilson Center on Wednesday announced a new program in partnership with Airbnb to connect homeless San Jose State University students with temporary housing using the home sharing website’s technology. Ron Ricci, board president at the Bill Wilson...
Some San Jose districts have bulk of low-income housing. One lawmaker hopes to change that.
While leaders across California continue to pump millions of dollars into increasing the state’s housing supply, scrambling to address a shortage of affordable housing that’s pushing residents into the streets, some local leaders are calling on their fellow colleagues to implement new ways to make it easier to build. Increasingly, San Jose has explored new strategies to get...
Bramson: An open door for those who have served
My stepfather joined the Navy around the time of the Korean War. He enlisted the summer after graduating from high school, serving aboard a minesweeper as a radioman. After four years on the sea, he was honorably discharged and came back to sunny California. He went to Long Beach State on the GI Bill, earned...
New figures show success in housing Santa Clara County’s homeless veterans
Amid a housing shortage and skyrocketing rents in Silicon Valley, homelessness continues to be a growing and seemingly intractable problem. However, for homeless veterans in Santa Clara County, this Veterans Day marks some major successes. According to newly-released data from nonprofit Destination: Home, 1,602 homeless veterans have been housed since the launch of the “All...
San Jose officials propose new property transfer tax for affordable housing
San Jose lawmakers next week could approve drafting an affordable housing tax ballot measure for the March 2020 ballot, another step to help raise revenue to tackle Silicon Valley’s growing housing and homeless crises. According to a new memo, the city manager’s office is recommending a real property transfer tax, which would apply to the...