Santa Clara Valley Transport Authority (VTA) Board of Directors and San José City Councilmembers gathered Thursday night to vote on whether or not to push the city’s proposal forward to build low-income housing at Cerone Yard.
Cerone Yard is a 2.2 acre plot of unused land located near Coyote Creek and one of VTA’s maintenance facilities.
The VTA Board of Directors voted 9-2 majority to adopt and lease the unused land at Cerone Yard for the project, ending the meeting around 9:45 p.m.
San José Mayor Matt Mahan said the proposal includes the construction of 200 housing units at the site.
Mahan, who is also one of the members of the VTA Board of Directors, explained how the property will hold a maximum of 200 people with one person living in a single unit, each having their own bathroom.
“Tonight we have a vote in front of us that is a life and death decision,” Mahan said. “Maybe not for any of us [in the room], but certainly for many of our unhoused neighbors.”
In 2023, there were 6,266 unhoused people in San José, according to a summary from City Council.
43% of the homeless population in the summary reported they were living outside and not in a shelter, vehicle or any other form of housing, according to the same source.
Omar Passons, deputy city manager for San José, said the city’s staff are trying to meet local and state demands.
“I will tell you that there are thousands of people on the street and hundreds literally waiting for interim housing right now,” Passons said. “From our perspective, the mayor and council directed us as city staff to go forward and try to find locations. We have tried for months to offer to work with and create that community input including with the workers and we're very, very eager to try and make a difference here.”
Ragan Henninger, the deputy director for the housing department for San José, said the city currently has 500 beds available for the homeless, but is aiming to finish building enough housing options to hold 1000 beds.
Henninger also said the city currently has 300 people recorded on a waitlist ready to receive low-income housing.
“Currently there are over 300 people on the waiting list to get into these 500 beds,” Henninger said. “We've closed the waiting list for now because it is so long.”
Mahan said it’s time for the city and community to be honest with themselves.
“When we step back and ask ourselves, ‘Why haven't we made faster progress in ending homelessness which our community consistently ranks as the number one concern [and] the number one priority?’ I think we have to be honest with ourselves that the reason is that we all too often find reasons to say ‘No,’” Mahan said.
Jim Lawson, the VTA chief of external affairs who provided the city a report on possible issues related to the proposal, said the VTA employees shared a couple of concerns about the project.
Lawson said the employees are concerned about their emotional and physical safety, and the amount of traffic that can possibly occurr once the project is finished.
“We are concerned about the impact on our workforce,” Lawson said. “This is a workforce that has been through a lot in the past few years in terms of the COVID epidemic, a cyber attack, as well as a mass shooting that took place at another yard that we have.”
He also explained to the board of directors that the facility at Cerone Yard is going through a “climate and culture transformation” and had previous plans to use the 2.2 acres for other projects.
“As everybody knows land in the Silicon Valley is enormously expensive and difficult to get,” Lawson said. “Of the three-plus yards and one rail yard that we have in VTA, this is the only facility that has room for expansion.”
Lawson also explained there are two alternative sites both the city and the VTA are still considering to use for low-income housing.
He said these sites are Hostetter Station and Berryessa North Transit Center near Mabury Road.
Lawson said both sites can hold up to 70 units and are both near light rail stations.
“I’d also like to state that we would consider and hope that the board would consider over the next 30 days our ability to work with the city to resolve some of the following concerns,” Lawson said.
Mahan said although no site is perfect, Cerone is the only site large enough to accept the 200 units which the state of California has already agreed to provide for San José.
He also said every agency throughout the city and the state will need to be bold in order to decrease homelessness.
“I think we're going to have to be willing to be bold and make some sacrifices, and make some investments across the board, every agency across our city, across our county and state, if we're going to really get a handle on this crisis,” Mahan said.
Mullissa Willette, the president of Service Employees International Union, Local 521 (SEIU Local 521), said the board of directors are not listening to the workers’ concerns in the staff recommendations report.
SEIU Local 521 is a labor union that represents 53,000 workers from public, nonprofit, and private sectors as well as family child-care providers, according to its website.
She said the Board of Directors in the past have acknowledged VTA workers for their work and heroism in working through the pandemic, but do not appear to be listening to the workers’ concerns.
“They [VTA employees] make critical decisions every day to keep these riders in this valley safe,” Willette said. “Let’s be clear, no one's against housing ... We have an opportunity to have a win-win. We urge this board to accept the staff recommendations.”
Henninger said she believes the city has already addressed their concerns.
She said the city already operates safe and controlled sites in other areas of San José.
“We don't have any data that suggests what we're building here is a community safety risk,” Henninger said.
Henniger said the city is already running other low-income housing programs safely by controlling who comes in and out of the sites.
“People are literally dying out in the streets, folks,” said William Chea, the president of Santa Clara County Association of Realtors.
Chea said regardless of whether or not the city and the VTA want to consider building low-income housing at alternative sites, the city needs to focus mainly on getting the homeless housed
“We need this housing, do the right thing,” Chea said. “If you think the other sites are great, awesome, let's put them all online. Let's get people off the streets with dignity. Please do the right thing and vote for this.”
