City leaders have agreed to give a San Jose housing developer multimillion-dollar tax breaks as part of a recently-passed program meant to win over builders. The San Jose City Council unanimously voted Tuesday to approve a seven-story, 345-apartment complex at 905 North Capitol Ave., signing off on $4.9 million in construction tax cuts and fee...
San Jose council approves mayor’s budget plan
San Jose officials have signed off on the mayor’s plan to reallocate a majority of funding meant for affordable housing and put it toward temporary homeless shelters. The City Council voted 7- 4 in a contentious meeting Tuesday to accept Mayor Matt Mahan’s March budget message for the 2025-26 fiscal year — with the elimination...
San Jose mayor’s proposals criminalize homelessness, advocates say
San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan is taking a hardline approach in his budget plan to get homeless people off the streets. Community advocates are calling it unjust. Mahan’s upcoming 2025-26 budget message proposes several ways to tackle homelessness, including reallocating more Measure E funding toward temporary shelter, encampment services and homelessness prevention. While proponents say...
Affordable housing to replace East San Jose abandoned building
A vacant building in East San Jose will be replaced with hundreds of affordable homes. A 100% affordable housing complex was approved at 2940 Alum Rock Ave. across from James Lick High School March 12 at Planning Director hearing. The 50,900-square-foot development would construct 400 homes and demolish two vacant buildings to make way for...
San Jose to crack down on RV rentals to homeless
San Jose has problems with slumlords and now they have problems with vanlords. City officials are targeting vanlords, individuals who they said prey on the homeless residents by renting them inoperable vehicles. Mayor Matt Mahan along with Councilmembers Bien Doan, Michael Mulcahy and David Cohen want to study ways to restrict renting RVs to homeless...
San Jose extends downtown sidewalk sleeping ban hours
San Jose homeless residents are at risk of being cited or arrested if they’re caught sleeping or sitting on the sidewalk by early morning. The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to extend sidewalk sleeping and sitting restrictions two hours early in the morning starting at 8 a.m. to 12 a.m. Known as the “pedestrian facilitation...
San Jose D3 candidates talk housing, downtown vibrancy
San Jose City Council District 3 candidates shared their ideas on how they’d represent the downtown on Thursday at a forum hosted by San José Spotlight and San Jose Woman’s Club. Seven candidates are vying for the vacant seat in a special election. In a room packed with residents, the candidates — mayoral Deputy Chief...
San Jose mayor’s pick for D3 leads in fundraising
Hundreds of thousands of dollars are pouring into a special election to represent San Jose’s downtown neighborhoods on the City Council for the next two years. Campaign finance filings show Matthew Quevedo, deputy chief of staff for Mayor Matt Mahan, has raised the most money so far, with more than $200,000. Latina Coalition of Silicon...
Here’s how downtown San Jose residents can vote in special election
Downtown San Jose voters will receive ballots next week for a special election to decide who will represent them for the next two years. The special election for the District 3 seat on the San Jose City Council will be held April 8. Seven candidates are vying for the open seat after former Councilmember Omar...
San Jose wants PG&E to fund city employees
San Jose leaders are partnering with PG&E to grow the city’s electrical infrastructure — and they want the utility giant to pay for more city employees. The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to have officials negotiate with PG&E on planning, building and paying for future infrastructure to support economic growth and efforts toward decarbonization. Councilmembers are...