AS SAN JOSE GEARS UP to dismantle its largest homeless encampment, inadequate housing has left hundreds of people with no place to go.
Homeless residents living in Columbus Park said outreach workers from the city and nonprofit HomeFirst promised housing would be available when the sweep starts Aug. 18. But some of the hotels being converted into temporary housing won’t be open until late August. The city’s first safe sleeping site opening on Taylor Street also won’t be ready until late August or September, according to a city spokesperson. On top of that, the opening dates of 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.
The five residents San José Spotlight spoke to said they haven’t been offered placements or put on a waitlist for these new sites.
Jennifer Lagone, 41, has been living in Columbus Park for the past year. Initially, she worked with a HomeFirst outreach worker who tried to place her in a tiny home. But she said a city worker told her she needed to go through the Here4You Hotline for a placement. She’s called the hotline nonstop over the past few months and was repeatedly told someone would eventually get back with a spot.
“The runaround is quite annoying,” Lagone told San José Spotlight. “You’re not getting anywhere. Supposedly all these places are supposed to be giving out the hotel vouchers, and I’ve seen nobody move yet. I don’t know where I’m going to be.”
Lagone said she doesn’t want to move into the safe sleeping site and risk losing her RV.
Where to next?
The safe sleeping site on Taylor Street is meant to serve as a navigation center where residents stay three to five weeks while waiting to move into other housing. With RV bans taking place across the city, Lagone said it’s almost impossible to know where she can go when sweeps occur.
Additionally, vehicles with registration more than six months out of date may be immediately towed without warning starting Aug. 17. The enforcement on expired registration will hit homeless people living in their vehicles. San Jose has more than 2,000 lived-in vehicles, and about 36% have expired tags.
One Columbus Park resident estimates about 80% of vehicles in the park have expired registration.
Joe Ortiz, who has been living in and around Columbus Park for the last seven years, said sweeping people without having anywhere for them to go will cause people to spiral and lose everything.
“I feel that a lot of people are gonna lose a lot of their belongings,” he told San José Spotlight.
Every time the city has swept Columbus Park in the past, he said he moved from one area to another and never recovered any items taken in the sweeps.
Ortiz said he’s lost a generator, motorcycle, two bikes, patio furniture and more. Though the city is supposed to store belongings for 90 days after a sweep, when he’s called to retrieve his belongings he’s been told they threw his things away.
Shelter coming online, city says
Housing department spokesperson Sarah Fields said the city plans to open three motels for homeless residents in late August — Casa Linda, Fontaine and Bristol. Motel 6 and Alura Inn will open in September or October. Together, the motels can house up to 330 people. Two sites will also provide up to 15 spaces for people living in their RVs.
Fields said HomeFirst outreach teams have been working with Columbus Park residents to meet their needs and enter their information into an assessment tool used to determine shelter placements. Once in the system, a resident’s situation can be identified and addressed.
“To build rapport, the HomeFirst outreach workers engage encampment residents to meet their basic needs, offering hygiene kits, water and other items as requested,” Fields told San José Spotlight. “This trust building leads to enrollment in the (system).”
Fields did not answer questions regarding whether the city outreach team or HomeFirst have placed any Columbus Park residents into housing, or if they are on the waitlist.
“You’re not getting anywhere. Supposedly all these places are supposed to be giving out the hotel vouchers, and I’ve seen nobody move yet. I don’t know where I’m going to be.”
Jennifer Lagone, Columbus Park resident
Without housing placements, residents swept from the park will disperse into other neighborhoods. Advocates have questioned why the city doesn’t delay the sweep until the hotels and tiny homes are available. Some residents estimate there are at least a few hundred people in the park.
“They need to delay the sweeps until the housing is ready to go, otherwise it’s extremely inhumane,” Todd Langton, founder of nonprofit Agape Silicon Valley, told San José Spotlight. “These deportations are similar to what (Mayor Matt) Mahan is doing with these abatements. It’s a wholesale mass abatement without much thought into the after fact.”
Contact Joyce Chu at joyce@sanjosespotlight.com or @joyce_speaks on X.
This story originally appeared in San Jose Spotlight.
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