Council approves housing-focused budget

New ‘Housing Catalyst Team’ will market possible sites to developers and investors

With concerns about the rising cost of living in Silicon Valley escalating and thousands of people sleeping in parks and under bridges, the San Jose City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved a budget focused on affordable housing and homelessness.

The $3.5 billion 2018-19 budget, which includes more than $15 million in reserves for expected budget shortfalls in the coming years, will also fund a new a “Housing Catalyst Team” to market possible housing sites to developers and investors and help them walk through the city’s complicated permit process.

The council also voted to direct an additional $3 million to reducing homelessness, and $150,000 on a pilot program to provide emergency housing and services to victims of domestic violence. Last year, San Jose police fielded more than 3,600 dispatches for domestic violence but fewer than 200 domestic violence survivors received support services.

“A high risk response team, coordinated through a partnership between the YWCA and the San Jose Police Department, can reduce lethality and improve service delivery to survivors,” Mayor Sam Liccardo wrote in a memo.

“I want to thank you for putting homelessness and housing in the forefront,” Councilwoman Sylvia Arenas told the mayor during Tuesday’s council meeting. “I’m really happy to support this budget.”

Other council members echoed the sentiment, with those on both the left and right politically thanking the mayor for juggling so many priorities.

“You can’t get one hundred percent of what you want,” acknowledged Councilman Johnny Khamis, who wanted more money for street repairs.

Pleasing teachers and reading advocates alike, the council also voted to use an “essential services”

“I want to thank you for putting homelessness and housing in the forefront. I’m really happy to support this budget.” — Councilwoman Sylvia Arenas

reserve to pay off more than $230,000 in library fines for overdue children’s books, and create a one-year pilot program to eliminate such fines.

More than 9,000 children, many of them from the city’s low-income neighborhoods, are currently prevented from checking out books because of fines, which the city’s Library and Early Education Commission has argued hurts their education and development as young people. Other big cities, such as San Francisco and Oakland, already have eliminated fines on children’s materials.

And, in a nod to the Italian-American community, whose relationship with the city became strained earlier this year when the council voted to remove a controversial Christopher Columbus statue from City Hall, the budget includes a $250,000 grant to help fund the development of an Italian-American History Museum in Little Italy.

Drivers in some parts of the city are also set to see some relief from potholes, with the council approving more than $1 million for road maintenance.

With conversations about sexual harassment at the forefront nationally, the council also backed a suggestion by Arenas to give local nonprofit organizations such as the YWCA $150,000 to teach teenagers about consent.

And in an attempt to continue to revitalize downtown, the council supported a proposal by Raul Peralez to continue offering grants to popup businesses who want to temporarily fill empty storefronts.

Not every council member got everything he or she asked for, however. The budget does not include money to finish opening a police substation, which several council members, including Peralez and Sergio Jimenez, have pushed for. The police chief and mayor have said they want to focus on hiring more officers first.

Liccardo appeared relieved when the council finally approved the budget after months of planning and negotiating.

“Ok there goes a few hundred million dollars,” he quipped, before moving on to the meeting’s next agenda item.

The city’s spending plan will be formally adopted later this month before the council goes on recess in July.