Image by James Yang

Local SJ officials seem perplexed that the County Board of Supes appear to be pulling a switcheroo regarding what had been an interim housing site on Monterey and Bernal. The county wants to turn it into a jail diversion site that’s an alternative to jail or prison for alleged offenders awaiting trial. Neighbors are livid, and below, Mayor Matt Mahan of SJ expresses wariness re: the County’s mixed signals in a letter to a constituent. {And it makes Opp Now editors wonder: is this the result of the county’s recent strategy to delay—yet again—a new jail, for which decarceration zealots like Supe Ellenberg have been advocating?}

Dear {Name withheld}:

I can tell you that all of us at the City were surprised to hear that the County proposed a “jail diversion” focus for the Monterey/Bernal interim housing site at their first community meeting. When the City Council voted unanimously to explore transferring the site to the County, our intention was for them to continue to operate the site with the same mission (moving people out of encampments) and increase on-site services because the County is our community’s primary provider of health and human services. Having the County run our interim sites would also have the benefit of freeing up the City’s budget for other critical needs, such as police staffing, road paving, and park maintenance. But jail diversion was not what we had in mind. 

I’ll personally attend the County’s second community meeting next Weds at 6pm via Zoom to see what their staff has to say. The good news is that the City has the final vote on any sale of the site. My priority is ending unsheltered homelessness and improving community safety–it’s quite possible that this transaction no longer makes sense for the City.   

More broadly, I want to emphasize that we’re pushing the City to get far more pragmatic in how we tackle this crisis: this year’s budget doubles our encampment abatement capacity and we’re expanding no-camping zones, adding another 1,000 shelter beds across the city as we expand those zones, and increasing law enforcement engagement. While progress has been slow and we have a huge hole to dig out of, our homeless count is down nearly 11% year-over-year and you will see encampments cleared at an accelerating rate over the coming months. 

Thanks again for your note. I share your concern and will keep a close eye on this. 

Matt

Mayor, City of San Jose

Related:

• Newsom cranks up the pressure on CA cities to get serious about alleviating inhumane homeless encampments
• District 6 Council hopefuls on balancing homeless solutions with neighborhood needs
• Sans camping ban, Sac rivers polluted by human excrement

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