San Jose mayor wants to clear homeless camps near freeways

San Jose has been clearing homeless encampments along city waterways, and is looking to do the same for people living under freeways.

Mayor Matt Mahan is exploring a partnership with Caltrans to accelerate sweeps near freeways through state legislation and a city pilot program. State freeways, highways and underpasses are under Caltrans’ jurisdiction. But due to its small cleanup crew, the state transportation agency can be slow to clear homeless encampments.

“Our freeway onramps aren’t campgrounds — living there is unsafe for everyone,” Mahan told San José Spotlight.

The mayor supports Senate Bill 569 co-authored by Sen. Catherine Blakespear and Assemblymember Patrick Ahrens, which would give cities the ability to conduct sweeps and do homeless outreach on Caltrans property. If passed, the state would reimburse cities for sweeps. Mahan is also pursuing a similar concept with Caltrans and state Sen. Dave Cortese in case SB 569 fails to move forward, though the pilot program is still in its early stages.

“Some of the most impactful and unsafe encampments in San Jose are located along freeways, where trash, fires, and other impacts accumulate while we wait for Caltrans to respond,” Mahan wrote in his March budget message. “By giving cities flexibility to enter Caltrans jurisdiction, offer resources, and conduct abatements with state reimbursement, we can significantly reduce blight and public safety risks.”

One encampment on southbound Highway 85 at the Santa Teresa Boulevard onramp had to be cleared four times within the past year.

“Significant litter and debris accumulation and fire hazards posed by makeshift structures attached to nearby trees have presented notable challenges at this location,” Caltrans spokesperson Chris Clark told San José Spotlight.

The agency addressed 122 encampments and removed nearly 14,500 cubic yards of debris from January 2024 to March 21, 2025, according to Caltrans. The agency also connected 142 homeless people to services within that time period. Caltrans is not allowed to clear encampments without informing local agencies so homeless people can be connected to services prior to a sweep.

Clark said the agency is working with San Jose on a new agreement after the previous one expired last June.

The city has about 3,000 beds for homeless residents, but its shelters are nearly full. Officials anticipate creating another 1,000 spaces this year, but San Jose has roughly 5,500 people living on the streets.

Cortese is working with Mahan and Caltrans to come up with an agreement. He said the state agency’s system for addressing homeless camps is inefficient due to a lack of coordination between the agency, county and city to place people into shelters.

“If the mayor really wants to do this, he’s got to be even more motivated than he is now to build more units or shelters, or buy more motels,” Cortese told San José Spotlight. “I know they have a lot of things in the pipeline right now, but he’s only going to be able to move as quickly on the interchanges as his pipeline of shelter will allow.”

Cortese said he receives regular complaints from constituents in San Jose, Gilroy and Morgan Hill about homeless encampments around the highways. Living near the roads is dangerous for homeless residents, he said, as some who struggle with mental illness may walk into traffic.

“It should be a win-win,” Cortese told San José Spotlight. “Not only (to) get people out of harm’s way, but get them into shelter and (be able to) clean up the interchanges.”

Todd Langton, executive director of nonprofit Agape Silicon Valley, questions the proposal’s effectiveness, especially when there aren’t enough shelter beds for people. He said Mahan is publicizing a misleading narrative on homeless people being service-resistant in order to penalize them for refusing shelter.

Mahan said 32% of homeless residents refused shelter when the Branham Lane modular housing site opened last month. Yet statistics provided by the city housing department show about 10% of the 5,500 unsheltered homeless people are service resistant.

“It sounds like the city wants to partner up with (Caltrans) so they can take control and just go abate,” Langton told San José Spotlight.

Contact Joyce Chu at [email protected] or @joyce_speaks on X.