San Jose has approved a plan to ban homeless camps along a half-mile stretch of the Guadalupe River Trail as part of an effort to revitalize the downtown waterway — the latest move by the city to rein in encampments across its streets and parks.
The City Council this week unanimously approved plans to clear about 20 people living on a section of the trail near the SAP Center and establish a “no return” zone to prevent future encampments. Mayor Matt Mahan, who pushed for the plan in an effort to make residents feel safe using the riverfront path, and Councilmember Arjun Batra were absent.
Last fall, the city used $2 million in state funding to remove about 200 people living by the river in tents and RVs and moved many into permanent housing and shelter. Officials say they don’t want the investment to go to waste.
“We spent a lot of money from the state to clear this encampment,” said Councilmember Dev Davis, whose district borders the river. “Let’s give this a try and see what it takes to prevent re-encampment in this area.”
The no-return zone is set to extend along the trail from Woz Way to Julian Street beside Highway 87. The area includes Adobe’s and Zoom’s headquarters, with grassy public parks and concrete overpasses crisscrossing the waterway. The city plans to clear anyone currently living there by April. City park staff and police bike patrol will then work to prevent anyone from setting up camp by the trail.
The city will post “no camping” signs, and officials will walk the river bank each day to look for encampments. If they find people staying in the area, officials will tell them to leave.
The council also approved $200,000 to help clean up the river and move forward with its revitalization plan. In recent years, city officials and nonprofits have called for the area to be a gathering place, with restaurants and green space.
The no-return zone is the first time the city has adopted an outright ban along a specific slice of its waterways — and officials signaled that the policy could eventually expand to other parts of the river, which runs 14 miles from the southern end of the San Francisco Bay to roughly the intersection of Almaden Expressway and Highway 85.
Homeless advocates have criticized the plan as cruel, but some neighbors said it’s long overdue.
“We’ve been walking this trail for years, and it’s getting worse and worse,” downtown resident Manny Yuen said while on a morning walk along the river with his wife, Mary Ann.
Under an overpass a few hundred yards away, a heap of shopping carts, broken appliances and other debris blocked the path.
“We used to walk all the way up to the airport, then people started putting up camps there, dogs running around loose. You just don’t feel safe,” Yuen said.
The city’s plan comes as Mahan is pushing a stricter response to encampments as public frustration has grown over the city’s struggle to get a handle on homelessness. The council is also considering a proposal championed by Mahan to ban RVs from parking near schools. The city has around 6,340 homeless residents.
All the while, the mayor and councilmembers have been working to more rapidly add shelter options, such as tiny homes, leased hotel rooms and safe-parking sites for RVs and other vehicles. Officials say ramping up shelter space is critical to getting people indoors and into permanent homes, but some advocates argue that it amounts to only a temporary solution, given the city’s severe affordable housing shortage.
With this week’s decision, San Jose joins localities, including Oakland, Santa Cruz, Milpitas, and most recently San Mateo County, to approve new encampment restrictions — part of a statewide shift to clamp down on street homelessness.
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Earlier this year, the U.S. Supreme Court decided to take up a case that could significantly affect how San Jose and other cities respond to encampments. The high court is set later this year to review a federal ruling that has mostly barred cities across the western U.S. from clearing camps if they can’t offer shelter.
At Tuesday’s council meeting, Marilee Jennings, executive director of the Children’s Discovery Museum near the trail, encouraged council members not to delay clearing out the area.
“Right now, we are at a critical point as new tents are beginning to arrive,” she said. “So I am here to ask for your help in not backsliding.”