Homeless residents living in Columbus Park staged a protest against next Monday’s encampment sweep which will displace hundreds of people.
More than four dozen community activists and unhoused residents marched from St. James Park in downtown to City Hall on Tuesday, chanting “community engagement not abatement” and “homelessness is not a crime, folks are trying to survive.” They carried signs with slogans such as “Offer us housing.” Columbus Park residents, including an older adult, an individual with a disability and another from the LBGTQ+ community spoke at City Hall about the challenges they’ll face from the impending sweep.
Rain, a resident who has lived at Columbus Park for a year and a half, has a condition affecting her vision. She said her corneas are thinning, making it hard for her to see. Accessing services such as sanitation and doing other daily activities are difficult, she said.
She’s gotten used to navigating around Columbus Park, but not knowing where she will go next makes it harder with her disability.
“It’s terrifying,” Rain told San José Spotlight.
Rain said it’s the second time she’s been swept. Prior to Columbus Park, she lived at a tiny home but was kicked out because she couldn’t keep her living area clean.
“It was difficult for me to clean my room because of my vision. No one came to help,” she said. “They just left me, kicked me out to the street with nothing and threw away all my stuff, all my important documents.”
Due to the delays in opening the city’s first safe sleeping site and motel conversions into homeless housing, promised shelter to Columbus Park residents will not be ready in time.
Three of the five hotels being converted into temporary housing won’t be open until late August. The safe sleeping site opening on Taylor Street won’t be ready until September, according to a city spokesperson. Opening dates for tiny homes at Cherry Avenue, Cerone Yard and the Rue Ferrari expansion have been pushed back to later in the fall. Together, these sites account for 759 spaces.
Meanwhile, the number of homeless people on the streets far outpaces what the city has planned. Silicon Valley’s largest city has 6,503 homeless residents, up 237 people from a 2023 point-in-time count, according to data shared by San Jose. About 60% is unsheltered, or 3,959 people, and 2,544 are sheltered.
“Let’s be clear here, Mayor (Matt) Mahan says there’s a place for everyone, but the math doesn’t lie,” Amanda Flores, a community organizer at West Valley Community Services, said at the rally. “We have nearly 4,000 unsheltered people in San Jose. Even after every tiny home, every motel conversion and the so-called navigation center are full, thousands will still be left with nowhere to go.”
Mahan’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
John Froggatt, staff attorney at the Law Foundation of Silicon Valley, said they are preparing for the aftermath of the sweeps and to hold the city accountable.
“There will probably be a lot of property claims based on all the past instances, because people’s property ends up destroyed or just never heard from again,” Froggatt told San José Spotlight. “There’s a couple channels to try to get that back. Lawsuits are always on the table for certain violations of property.”
Contact Joyce Chu at [email protected] or @joyce_speaks on X.
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