California cities of every size lack shelter beds for the state’s growing homeless population. A new bill would force local governments to do more, and punish cities that don’t plan housing for unhoused residents.
The mayor said the new temporary housing units for unhoused residents will be built “at a fraction of the cost and a fraction of the construction time of building long-term permanent housing.”
The new evacuation centers will match unhoused residents with access to facilities and new supplies to accelerate their move from the streets into interim housing.
The governor threw communities into disarray two weeks ago by withholding $1 billion in homelessness funding for plans he saw as unambitious. Local officials said this discouraged ambitious programs. Now Newsom is yielding.
A city cleanup of the Crash Zone just south of Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport on June 24 blindsided housing advocates and the 250 to 600 unhoused residents, raising questions of what's next.
Over the last few years—and especially during the Covid-19 pandemic—Santa Clara County's Coyote Creek watershed has become an inflection point for how the South Bay must address issues surrounding its homelessness crisis and the environmental impact of creekside encampments.