County approves funding to move tent site
San Jose encampment Hope Village is set to close by March 30
SAN JOSE » With a March 30 deadline for residents of Hope Village, a sanctioned homeless encampment in San Jose, to vacate their site, Santa Clara County Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to relocate the encampment and approved $3.1 million to eventually replace it with a “tiny home” community.
Supervisors gave staff the authority to propose leasing a property in central San Jose owned by the Santa Clara Valley Water District, located at Willow and Lelong streets between the Guadalupe River and 87 freeway.
The tent encampment, which has housed between 14 and 20 people, has been located on a San Jose city-owned site since September. A group of activists initially started the encampment without permission on state-
owned property, but as it gained more support from local leaders, the county negotiated a plan to lease city property to house the encampment.
However, because the city purchased the property with grant money from the Federal Aviation Administration, it can only be used for airport purposes, according to a letter to the county from San Jose City Manager David Sykes. So the city has to close the encampment or else risk losing other airport funding. The county had asked the city of San Jose to extend its lease on the airport land, but the city declined, citing the FAA restrictions.
Staff is authorized to spend up to $3.1 million toward the encampment relocation and “tiny home” project, which would aim to open as soon as possible and operate through January 2021.
The tent village would be relocated, but supervisors also allocated money to house the current residents of Hope Village in motels if needed.
“I’ve been on the street, by the creek, the railroad, and Hope Village has given me the opportunity to maintain my stability with my family, and as regular as I possibly can, while being homeless,” said Colleen Guest, who along with her 92-year-old mother and 14-year-old son, has been homeless for five years. They currently live at Hope Village. “My son went to school every day and maintained good grades…and it saved my dignity.”
The county is requesting the city of San Jose split the cost of the project if it’s located in San Jose, although discussions are preliminary and the city council has not taken any action related to the county’s proposal, said Ky Le, director for the Office of Supportive Housing.
Staff initially proposed the project as a 30-unit “tiny home” village that would replace the tent village, where each unit would have its own bathroom and small kitchen. The property would have room for a community garden, dog run and recreation areas.
The initial proposal was aimed at temporarily housing people who are newly homeless and need short-term assistance, or temporary housing before placing them in permanent housing.
During the relocation, the proposal called for Hope Village residents to be placed in shelters or motels.
Supervisors ultimately voted to relocate the tent village entirely while plans for the tiny home community are worked out. The project could take at least six months to complete.
In addition to tiny homes, the county is also considering other types of temporary housing structures.
Peter Miron-Conk, the current director of Casa de Clara Catholic Worker which runs Hope Village, raised concerns about replacing the tent village with a new type of temporary housing.
“I don’t have any objective to supportive housing program,” said Miron-Conk. “But it changes the whole dynamic, it reduces the number of people we can assist and makes the whole thing a different type of operation.”
Supervisor Susan Ellenberg echoed that concern, saying tent encampments have fewer barriers to access and help a different demographic than those who would be served by a tiny home community.
She suggested the county relocate the tent encampment to a new site while it builds a more developed housing community in phases.
“The tent encampments are such a low bar and low expense item,” said Ellenberg. “I feel that we could reach more people and in many respects, a more desperate group of people, by keeping that barrier low.”
The board’s vote doesn’t stipulate what exactly the tiny homes would look like, although the general idea is for enclosed units with separate amenities and supportive services on site.
The county also discussed using one acre of a 6.46-acre, vacant county site in Milpitas, on Thompson Drive next to the Elmwood Correctional Facility. Staff would need additional approval from supervisors to move forward with that site.
Supervisor Dave Cortese, whose district includes both sites being discussed, noted the county and city were able to relocate Hope Village to its current site in a day.
“There’s something to be said for that kind of flexibility — it can be picked up and moved and adjusted to accommodate people fairly quickly,” said Cortese.
Supervisor Cindy Chavez said while the county needs to move quickly to relocate Hope Village before March 30, whatever they propose will also need the approval of the San Jose City Council.
“I think we have to recognize we have a city we have to partner with,” Chavez said.