After weeks of public outcry, San Jose City Councilmembers voted in favor of continuing the controversial removal of homeless encampments throughout the city during a Tuesday Zoom council meeting.
Todd Langton, a member of Agape Silicon Valley, said he’s against sweeping encampments because the city has no current plan to relocate the homeless community. Agape Silicon Valley is a San Jose nonprofit that aims to improve the quality of life for the homeless community, according to its website.
“I strongly encourage the city to stop the sweep, stop the abatements, unless there are sanctioned encampments already in place,” Langton said during public comment. “There should be a sanction and cabinet in everybody's district.”
San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo halted the sweeps of homeless encampments in March 2020, abiding by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines which state homeless people should be permitted to stay in their encampments to prevent spreading the coronavirus.
In addition to citywide sweeps, District 3 Councilmember Raul Peralez and city officials proposed a temporary, government-sanctioned encampment in San Jose for homeless people to shelter, which passed with a 9-2 vote.
“If the idea is to have a place that is safe where we can provide basic services . . . we can do that much more effectively by identifying sites [for homeless encampments],” Liccardo said during the meeting.
The city’s homeless population totals 6,097 people, according to the 2019-20 San Jose Homelessness Annual report included in the Tuesday city council meeting agenda. There are currently 220 mapped encampments across the city, according to BeautifySJ, a program created in 2017 by Liccardo to clean San Jose neighborhoods.
Despite CDC guidelines on homelessness encampments, several San Jose residents advocated for their removals, out of safety concerns.
“[Homeless people] break car windows of visitors and workmen who come to my home,” San Jose resident Ann Marie Burger said during public comment. “I am now increasingly afraid to even take a walk in my neighborhood, the Guadalupe River Trail isn't safe, St. James Park is not safe.”
Guadalupe River Trail is near Children's Discovery Museum at the south end of Downtown San Jose while St. James Park is between Second St. James streets, northwest of San Jose State.
Sarah Zarate, assistant to the city’s manager office, said councilmembers should place 50-foot buffer zones around schools when planning where to establish homeless sites and abatements.
Jon Cicirelli, director of parks, recreation and neighborhood services, said buffer zones should surround school districts with the highest numbers of homeless encampments surrounding them. This includes Franklin-Mckinley School District, San Jose Unified School District and Alum Rock Unified School District.
“You know these districts are heavily impacted by homelessness and their schools have a lot of homeless encampments that are in their proximity,” Circirelli said during public comment.
Andres Quintero, a member of the Alum Rock School Board of Trustees, said he agrees with the idea of implementing buffer zones.
“I'm not always aligned with some of the things that the mayor’s proposed but on this one I am completely in support of creating a buffer zone that makes sure that its pathways to daycare facilities and schools are free of encampments,” Quintero said during public comment.
However, Steph Avila, founder of the advocacy group Houseless Homies San Jose, said she is deeply concerned because abatement has already started and many people have already been displaced.
She said she often brings homeless people the “literal things they need to survive” but now she has lost track of several of them because of recent police sweepings.
“The City of San Jose is making [taking care of homeless people] an uphill battle that we don't have the resources to fight,” Avila said during public comment.
In February 2021, an encampment on Felipe Avenue near McKinley Elementary School was cleared because of public safety concerns, according to a Feb.15 San Jose Spotlight article.
Zarate said sweeping the encampment on Felipe Avenue did solve the issue of homelessness in that area, as many homeless people were referred to temporary housing solutions and others declined services and moved nearby.
“Abatements alone are not a solution,” Zarate said in the presentation during the meeting. “They do not eliminate homelessness but rather, typically result in just shifting people around the same area and without sufficient enforcement resources.”
District 2 Councilmember Sergio Jimenez said the tension between the challenges homeless people face and the housed residents the councilmembers represent who desire a “clean, and in their mind, safe neighborhood” is a challenging issue.
District 3 Councilmember Raul Peralez said first priority of councilmembers should be finding possible sites for relocation.
