SAN JOSE (KRON) — San Jose’s Willow Glen neighborhood, more specifically the area surrounding Evans Lane and Canoas Garden, is the latest hot spot in the ongoing effort to find shelter for the homeless in the city.
A plan to house as many as 100 homeless people in portable units on a 6-acre site on Evans Lane is meeting with stiff opposition from neighbors, many of whom live in the nearby Willow Glen Mobile Home Estates. The site is next door to a Wellness and Recovery Center.
Critics of the plan said there are already homeless encampments in the area too and worry that a shelter will only attract more.
Other residents feel a shelter will make an already bad crime problem worse.
It is possible the shelter would be limited to homeless families, single mothers with children, and veterans.
The city said it is determined to find more housing for the homeless.
“We firmly believe that well-managed, well-run, and well-operated affordable housing developments and programs like the one we’re proposing on Evans Lane will revitalize the community,” San Jose Housing Department spokesman Ray Bramson said. “It will provide added attention and will help us address some of the neighborhood issues that are going on right now.”
Following a couple more weeks of seeking public comment, the planning commission will make a recommendation later this month with action by the city council to follow in June.
KRON’s Rob Fladeboe will have a full report on KRON News at 6 p.m.