Clearing homeless camps to resume, focus near schools
City considering a sanctioned encampment area
The San Jose City Council voted March 23 to resume removing homeless encampments throughout the city, paying special attention to camps near schools.
The 10-1 vote — which comes a year after COVID-19 paused most encampment clearings — also directs city staffers to propose rules that would govern where people can and can’t camp. And it opens the door for the city to explore setting up its first sanctioned encampment.
“While housing is the long-term, correct solution, we can’t not manage what’s going on in the streets every day,” Councilman Matt Mahan said.
The measure passed despite opposition from a long list of homeless rights advocates and community members, including a representative from the county health care system.
Council members directed the city manager to draft an ordinance by May 1 that would make certain areas off-limits to camping. Acting on Mayor Sam Liccardo’s recommendation, enforcement will focus on areas near schools and day cares, as well on paths children frequently walk on to and from school. Council members suggested starting small, perhaps by banning camps around schools in specific neighborhoods.
Camps that pose a health or safety threat will be prioritized as well, and the City Council directed staffers to clarify what types of poor conditions would warrant a camp’s removal. Council members also voted to explore expanding the reach of hygienic services, trash removal, mental health consultations and other services the city and county bring to encampments.
Federal health guidelines urge letting encampments remain where they are amid the pandemic if there is no housing available, as clearing camps can disperse occupants throughout a city, disrupting their safety nets and potentially spreading the virus.
San Jose, like many other Bay Area cities, agreed early in the pandemic to mostly let encampments be — though dozens of removals continued of camps officials found posed a particular hazard or problem. Since then, many camps around the region have grown in size and visibility, sparking complaints from neighbors.
But multiple people spoke out March 23 against ramping up abatements in San Jose.
“We cannot kick people out of their homes when they have nowhere else to go. It is immoral,” said a local activist known as Batman, who dresses up as the superhero while distributing supplies in unhoused communities.
The health care the county has been able to offer unhoused people has improved dramatically over the past year because people have stayed in one place rather than being shuffled around as the city clears their camps, said Dr. Mudit Gilotra, medical director of Santa Clara County’s Valley Homeless Healthcare Program. And as the county vaccinates encampment residents against COVID-19, health care workers need to know where their patients are.
“I can’t imagine how difficult it will be to find people again for their second dose if abatements are happening,” Gilotra said.
Local resident Ann Marie Burger said the encampments along the Guadalupe River Trail and in St. James Park have become a public health issue and make her feel unsafe.
“I am now increasingly afraid to even take a walk in my neighborhood,” she said.
Councilman Raul Peralez was the sole no vote after expressing concerns that the proposal paved the way for displacing unhoused residents without giving them anywhere to go.
“This is the opportunity to do something different,” he said. “I want to take advantage of that before we go back to status quo, which is simply abating.”
In a follow-up vote, council members approved Peralez’s recommendation to consider creating a citysanctioned encampment. He said he has a location in mind and is talking to Santa Clara County Supervisor Cindy Chavez about a potential partnership with the county.
But Liccardo cautioned finding a site and getting it through the permitting process are “very, very hard” — especially as any site proposed is sure to face massive pushback from neighbors. It would be “impossible” for city staffers to add that workload to their duties, said Jacky Morales
Ferrand, San Jose’s director of housing.
San Francisco set up sanctioned tent cities last year, and Oakland is considering creating “co-governed” camps that residents and a nonprofit would lead together.
Oakland also passed an encampment management policy in October that prioritizes the removal of camps near schools, homes, businesses and other areas. But the policy has yet to take effect.
A San Jose city staffer and multiple council members agreed March 23 that Oakland’s policy is not enforceable, and is not something to be emulated.
“We’re not alone,” San Jose Councilwoman Maya Esparza said. “Other cities are trying to figure this out, and they take a vote and then don’t implement it because they can’t figure it out.”