Listen to this note:
By Brandon Pho. San Jose Spotlight.
About 40 homeless people are holed up on a small plot of land adjacent to San Jose's busy Highway 237 in Microsoft Land.
The camp is around the same spot where Microsoft plans to build two data centers in San Jose, near the Milpitas border. Unhoused residents said a Caltrans worker warned them of an impending raid. Officials at Caltrans, Santa Clara County and San Jose deny such a plan. However, someone has tipped off the camp, and its residents are on edge.
“If we have to move in 60 days, 90 days, that’s fine, that’s what we’ll work with. But we want to be prepared,” Ricky Robles, a 60-year-old homeless resident who has lived in the encampment for two years, told San Jose Spotlight.
“We have vehicles and we would need to get them out of here. We will have to tow our cars if they don’t start. Or we risk getting fined or having our stuff taken away. And then, we have to figure out where to go,” he added.
Microsoft purchased the 65-acre site in 2017 for $73 million to build the data centers. San Jose officials have yet to issue permits for the project, which is still under review by San Jose's planning division and other departments.
Microsoft declined to comment on the camp.
Advocates and local officials differ on when the encampment appeared, but place its origin sometime between 2021 and 2022. They agree that the encampment exploded after Milpitas city officials, in a high-profile crackdown on homelessness, pushed homeless residents out of the city and onto Highway 237.
“Things got worse when Milpitas cracked down,” Councilmember David Cohen, whose District 4 encompasses the Highway 237 encampment, told San José Spotlight. “We can’t control what other cities do within their borders, but I hope we all work together to be thoughtful and solve the problem rather than taking quick action that makes it harder for neighbors.”
Robles said she has lived at the camp for two years due to legal battles with her brother. She tried living in several motels and county shelter programs, but had bad experiences.
Robles said he spoke to a man who appeared to work for Caltrans a few weeks ago.
“The guy said, ‘Hey, I’m not sure if I’m supposed to do this, but you guys need to know that you’re going to get out of here,’” Robles told San José Spotlight.
Caltrans spokesman Victor Gauthier said the agency has no authority over the property and no plans to conduct a raid. He referred all questions to San Jose officials. Councilman Cohen said no raid is planned.
Cohen said the encampment issue underscores his push for safe parking programs in the city. A safe parking site has opened in South San Jose where homeless people can sleep in their RVs and access services. But the program has numerous restrictions that caused the Santa Teresa VTA light rail station location to be virtually empty when it opened. It is nearly full as of Feb. 26.
A second site at 100 Berryessa Road is scheduled to open this summer. The project has been hit by numerous delays.
Yolie Garcia, an organizer with the Milpitas advocacy group Hope for the Unhoused, said moving residents to the safe parking spot will take time.
“The vehicles would need to be operational and have current insurance and registration,” Garcia told San José Spotlight. “I hope to have all that information in the next two weeks for every car in the camp.”
He said camp residents are in survival mode every day.
“Having a safe place to live, even for a short time, is everything to them, but they know it can end in a minute and that causes them stress and PTSD,” Garcia said.
See the original note by clicking here.
You may be interested in: Delay in residency permit processes threatens the US economy
