By Brandon Pho. San Jose Spotlight.
Policymakers in the Bay Area's largest city agreed Tuesday to ban homeless people from camping near schools, despite pleas from advocates and concerns from City Hall about how to carry it out.
City council members voted unanimously to draft a policy allowing police to tow vehicles parked within 150 feet of K-12 campuses, despite city administrators questioning how they will implement the new law. City officials warned that the policy could require enormous resources to enforce and run afoul of the state vehicle code. Council members responded by ordering city leaders to pressure Sacramento to change the state law — another drain on the city’s limited resources.
Under the council's direction, the city will also draft an ordinance banning oversized vehicles from public roads deemed dangerous by an engineering study. City officials were ordered to draft a separate policy for towing vehicles from streets where overnight parking is prohibited.
The council members, led by Mayor Matt Mahan, said the city's policies are toothless and only allow law enforcement to impose fines.
“San Jose has taken on far more than our fair share of oversized vehicles from Santa Clara County,” Mahan said at the meeting. He added that other communities, especially wealthier ones like Saratoga, have much stricter bans on the books. “If we stand alone and don’t enforce the law, we’ll be the only place in the county that will have all the RVs.”
The discussion comes after six months of debate and intense public pressure to find solutions to the city's homeless crisis.
While students and parents say they have been threatened, stepped on needles and feel unsafe walking to school, homeless advocates warn that a blanket ban criminalizes homelessness and piles more costs on people who are already displaced. City officials have identified Independence High School, Shirakawa Elementary School and Challenger-Berryessa School as the three most affected school campuses.
Dozens of speakers lined up for and against the proposed bans. Dozens of students at KIPP San Jose Collegiate charter high school said the encampments make walking to school scary. Homeless advocates, on the other hand, accused politicians like Mahan of stoking fear to fuel a narrative linking homelessness to crime.
San Jose resident Debra Townley said she was living in her vehicle with a child.
“My son was in school at the time and I needed to park close to the schools so I could get him to school,” Townley said at the meeting. “I find it very disturbing that we’re going to ban an entire class of people who are trying to survive.”
KIPP sophomore Sophia Le said homeless residents have wreaked havoc on her school.
“We’re just kids in San Jose trying to have the best school experience. How is that going to be possible when my school has to constantly make repairs every time a member of the RV community trespasses on campus?” she told the meeting.
Mahan responded that keeping RVs more than 100 feet away from schools does not criminalize them. Reducing homelessness on the streets — or at least the appearance of people sleeping outdoors in Silicon Valley — has been a cornerstone of the mayor’s political platform as he seeks reelection in March.
All councilors, except Dev Davis, who was absent, seemed to agree.
Deputy Mayor Rosemary Kamei acknowledged that people in Silicon Valley are struggling to survive. Driven by the global tech industry, San Jose consistently ranks as the most expensive place in the U.S. to rent and pay monthly bills.
“We all deserve to be safe and there is no one on this stage who would disagree with that,” Kamei said.
When council members begin budget talks this spring, they will consider a broader policy to ban RVs in more parts of the city. Other ideas that surfaced in a city report Tuesday included convincing private property owners to allow RV parking and having the city buy RVs from homeless people in an effort to help them afford an apartment.
City leaders estimate that San Jose is home to 850 inhabited vehicles and up to 1,500 residents could be affected by the policy. In its most recent homeless count, San Jose counted more than 6,500 homeless people in 2022.
Councilman Bien Doan, who was once homeless, took issue with long-term RV strategies proposed by city leaders — keeping RVs only in industrial areas. He said pushing homeless people to the outskirts of San Jose tarnishes poorer neighborhoods.
“I feel like I was caught off guard by all of this,” Doan said, adding that policies like the RV ban would “hurt and hurt (his) district.”
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