Transitional housing is badly needed for San Jose’s unhoused population, but it must be built in the right place. As the city looks for sites for Emergency Interim Housing, Green Foothills is advocating to ensure that both the environment and the needs of our unhoused neighbors are respected.

Initial Proposed Site was Bad for Both Environment and Unhoused Community

Last June, the City Council voted to move forward with Emergency Interim Housing plans on an open space area on Noble Avenue. The surrounding community called on Green Foothills to weigh in regarding the loss of this open space and the impacts to wildlife habitat and the adjacent Penitencia Creek percolation ponds. Before doing so, we carefully weighed the need to build housing for the unhoused population, but when we discovered that the Noble Avenue site was considered unsuitable by a homelessness advocate, that became an additional reason to oppose the proposed site.

Fortunately, city staff eliminated the Noble Avenue site from consideration after strong public opposition – local residents had been using the site as a park for decades – and instead developed a list of potential alternative sites based on community input.

What You Can Do

Staff will be presenting their final proposed list of alternative sites to the City Council in November. We will be evaluating that list both for environmental concerns and for suitability for housing for the unhoused community. If any of the alternative sites are problematic, we will alert you to the opportunity to submit emails with your concerns to the City Council.