San Jose’s first safe sleeping site for homeless residents has temporarily shut down due to electrical issues just days after opening.
A housing department spokesperson said the city closed the Taylor Street tent village on Friday and moved nearly a dozen homeless people living there to other temporary housing sites. The electrical issues stem from a generator, which caused air conditioning problems inside a trailer used as an office by HomeFirst, the nonprofit managing the site. The air conditioning wasn’t blowing cold enough air, and also tripped the circuit breaker. It’s unclear when the site — which opened Sept. 8 and faced months of delays in coming online — will open again.
“The city is awaiting a replacement generator for the RV office and a technician appointment to review the trailer’s electrical system,” spokesperson Sarah Fields told San José Spotlight. “Safe and consistent site operations are our priority.”
The site has 56 tents, with eight being ADA accessible, and is meant to serve as a navigation center to connect homeless people with resources and move them into housing within a month. There are 6,503 homeless residents in San Jose, according to a point-in-time count conducted in January. More than 3,500 people are unsheltered.
San Jose funneled homeless people living in Columbus Park to the safe sleeping site. Last month, the city started sweeping the area, where roughly 370 people lived in tents, vehicles and makeshift shelters. A city news release on Tuesday said 198 people from the park have moved into shelter. Three of four recently opened temporary housing sites — Casa Linda, Fontaine Inn and Alura Hotel — are at capacity. In the near future, the city will move homeless residents from other camps to Bristol Hotel, which will serve families and single women. A fifth site is scheduled to open in mid-October, Fields said.
San Jose cleared out the last of the tents in Columbus Park Monday, and Fields said anyone left at the park had to leave the area. A video viewed by San José Spotlight showed workers sweeping tents marked with “Do not tow or abate” tags, indicating the residents had signed up for housing. Kevin Richardson, a manager with the city parks department conducting the sweep, said the tags only gave homeless people protection until Sept. 5.
“We worked as much with (the housing department) as we could,” Richardson told San José Spotlight. “We’re going to secure this and it’s going to become a construction site.”
San Jose plans to transform the dilapidated park with a 9.4-acre redesign that will feature synthetic soccer fields, courts for horseshoe, futsal, basketball and pickleball, picnic areas and a play area for children.
Some people have been left behind in the city’s sweep of Columbus Park, such as Jose Diaz, who said he was told he didn’t qualify for housing. Diaz said he was a contributing member of society before he became homeless.
“If I had the opportunity, I would help other people. Why wouldn’t they help me?” Diaz told San José Spotlight.
Contact Joyce Chu at [email protected] or @joyce_speaks on X.
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