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San Jose City Council looks to be zeroing out funds for PSH in the coming year: Measure E proposed allocation is 90% interim housing, 10% prevention. In this exclusive roundup, Opp Now contributors Pat Waite, Irene Smith, and Tom Weissmiller analyze how treatment-free “Housing First” has long failed our homeless neighbors—and it’s (past) time for change.

Pat Waite, Citizens for Fiscal Responsibility president:

By voting to reallocate a significant amount of Measure E funds toward interim housing solutions, our city council finally appears to be listening to residents who have been clamoring for homeless solutions for years. We want the inhumane conditions suffered by our unhoused neighbors addressed today, not years from now. The next step in proving that they understand the magnitude of the problem is to address the root cause by making housing construction in general easier and less expensive. San Jose needs more housing of all types to resolve our affordability crisis.

Irene Smith, United Housing Alliance head:

PSH has failed—not just because of all the failed audits and the additional funding given by the City of San Jose to several PSH for additional loan support and security systems investment—but because the nonprofits who run them are not up to the challenge of property management and what it takes to run housing at a community level with folks with a wide variety of special needs such as mental health and addiction.

San Jose City Council looks to be zeroing out funds for PSH in the coming year: Measure E proposed allocation is 90% interim housing, 10% prevention. In this exclusive roundup, Opp Now contributors Pat Waite, Irene Smith, and Tom Weissmiller analyze how treatment-free “Housing First” has long failed our homeless neighbors—and it’s (past) time for change.

Pat Waite, Citizens for Fiscal Responsibility president:

By voting to reallocate a significant amount of Measure E funds toward interim housing solutions, our city council finally appears to be listening to residents who have been clamoring for homeless solutions for years. We want the inhumane conditions suffered by our unhoused neighbors addressed today, not years from now. The next step in proving that they understand the magnitude of the problem is to address the root cause by making housing construction in general easier and less expensive. San Jose needs more housing of all types to resolve our affordability crisis.

Irene Smith, United Housing Alliance head:

PSH has failed—not just because of all the failed audits and the additional funding given by the City of San Jose to several PSH for additional loan support and security systems investment—but because the nonprofits who run them are not up to the challenge of property management and what it takes to run housing at a community level with folks with a wide variety of special needs such as mental health and addiction.