<\/p>\n
A view of a homeless encampment along Coyote Creek in San Jose that the city plans to sweep.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Thien-An Truong\/For the S.F. Chronicle<\/p>\n
San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, left, talks to California gubernatorial candidates Betty Yee, center, and Tom Steyer, right, as they stand near Beatriz Ramos, chief program officer of HomeFirst, during a tour of a Dignity Homes tiny house village in San Jose.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Yalonda M. James\/S.F. Chronicle<\/p>\n
Kendra Greer, 33, poses for a portrait with her dog in front of her tent at a homeless encampment along Coyote Creek in San Jose.<\/p>\n
Thien-An Truong\/For the S.F. Chronicle<\/p>\n
Luis Nunez, 54, fixes a bike at a homeless encampment along Coyote Creek, also know as, \u201cOlinder\u201d in San Jose, Thursday, April 2, 2026.<\/p>\n
Thien-An Truong\/For the S.F. Chronicle<\/p>\n
Abatement notices are seen at a homeless encampment along Coyote Creek.<\/p>\n
Thien-An Truong\/For the S.F. Chronicle<\/p>\n
Kendra Greer\u2019s eyes were trained on her puppy as it ran circles around a makeshift campfire stove on the bank of Coyote Creek in San Jose.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chiquito, a tiny black dog, is Greer\u2019s shadow, following the 32-year-old wherever she goes. Soon that means leaving the encampment on the creek for a small room across town.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On April 15, the campsite Greer has known as home\u00a0\u2014 on and off\u00a0\u2014 for the last three years will be torn down by the city. Most residents are being pushed to leave their tents for what San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan calls \u201ctiny homes communities.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
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The city\u2019s newest shelter, located in northern San Jose, has a fleet of 70-square-foot rooms ready for about 100 people. Each factory-built dwelling has white walls and faux hardwood floors. Installation is fast and cheap.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt didn\u2019t feel homey,\u201d Greer said after a tour. \u201cBut as long as I\u2019m on the streets, I can\u2019t really complain.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n Add Preferred Source<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n The tiny homes are part of\u00a0 Mahan\u2019s plan to expand the city\u2019s transitional housing stock, which has grown by 1,200 beds since February 2025 and now totals about 2,150 beds. That number also includes parking sites, safe sleep sites and converted motels but the city\u2019s ten \u201ctiny home\u201d communities have become a centerpiece of San Jose\u2019s approach to the unhoused. Now, they\u2019re also a centerpiece of Mahan\u2019s campaign for California governor.\u00a0<\/p>\n Mahan, a Democrat, is touting how he\u2019s managed San Jose\u2019s housing, addiction and mental health crises to sell how he\u2019d manage those issues statewide. He argues that San Jose has reduced \u201cunsheltered homelessness faster than any other city in the state\u201d by moving people into shelters. He says his policies have saved lives and helped those struggling with addiction get into recovery.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cAnd we could do a lot more if the state got every city and county to do the same,\u201d he said on a recent debate stage.\u00a0<\/p>\n Since becoming mayor in 2023,\u00a0Mahan has focused on cleaning up the streets by moving people off of them. In his pitch for governor, he calls it \u201cgoing back to basics.\u201d And Silicon Valley\u2019s wealthiest, at least, are listening. California billionaires have thrown more money behind Mahan<\/a> than any of the other seven democrats running. In the crowded race for governor, only 4% of likely voters support him, according to a Berkeley IGS Poll<\/a> released. Yet, as of Friday, he amassed about $11.7 million in direct support and another $13.6 million in third-party committee donations<\/a>.<\/p>\n Critics call Mahan\u2019s approach to San Jose too focused on temporary housing to the detriment of permanent homes. They point to the city\u2019s decision to divert as much as 90% of funding earmarked for permanent affordable housing to instead help fund temporary housing. They say focusing mostly on the most visible parts of the crisis\u00a0\u2014 encampments\u00a0\u2014 at the expense of\u00a0 longer-term solutions isn\u2019t the right approach. They also argue that a controversial 2025 law<\/a> he pushed to potentially arrest homeless people who repeatedly refuse offers of shelter is draconian and cruel.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cHe is not investing in the people,\u201d said\u00a0Shaunn Cartwright, a homeless advocate in Santa Clara County. \u201cHe is investing in a short-term solution \u2026 You can\u2019t blame people for not cooperating with a system that invests so little long-term in them.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n She said the unhoused often feel warehoused; that regular run-ins with police over trespassing have eroded trust. After the Coyote Creek encampment is swept, police will enforce no-camping laws in the area, which the city already cleared in 2014.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n A new San Jose police unit charged with \u201cneighborhood quality of life\u201d tracks interactions with the unhoused, sometimes labeling people as resistant to help. Mahan has pushed back on what he calls \u201cprogressive\u201d approaches and outlooks that allow \u201ca culture of enablement\u201d for those who \u201cchoose to live outside\u201d when beds are open.<\/p>\n Mahan told the Chronicle that the state cannot wait for long-term solutions to materialize while \u201cthe immediate crisis\u201d continues. In San Jose, that crisis has meant about 6,500 homeless residents, according to the most recent count in 2025, a slight increase over 2023. About 60% were living outside.\u00a0<\/p>\n Homelessness and housing are top issues in the race for governor, which has more than two dozen candidates on the ballot. Cities are grappling with high rents and encampments while managing constrained budgets. Gov. Gavin Newsom\u2019s state budget proposal slashes in half grants cities use to build shelters and fund other programs, which could make it more difficult to fund expensive, supportive housing rather than cheaper shelter options.<\/p>\n Mahan has pledged as governor that he\u2019d keep the homelessness funding intact at $1 billion a year. It\u2019s the source Mahan used to pay for 47 pallet homes at a cost of $12.7 million, which was secured in 2024.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n While some homeless people embrace the tiny homes, others are wary. Layla Nicole Jackson Freeze, 48, has lived in a cabin with her husband for about three months at a site in south San Jose.\u00a0 She said he struggles with mental health issues that can make living in a smaller space a challenge.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cIt makes you feel like a criminal,\u201d she said of her shelter site. \u201cThey wand you, they look in your bag, you have to wait for a security guard \u2026 there\u2019s no sense of home.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The units have a door that locks, making most people feel safe. Some communities\u2019 dwellings include in-unit bathrooms while others have shared showers and toilets. Residents get two meals every day, and case managers are onsite.<\/p>\n San Jose\u2019s early shelter expansions cut the number of people living outdoors by 23% between 2019 and 2025. Mahan says with the addition of beds since the count, that number has likely gone down more. He points to an annual city survey that asked residents if they \u201ctrust City Hall.\u201d The number of people in the August survey<\/a> who agreed went up 36.6% compared to the year before he took office.\u00a0<\/p>\n The same survey found 10.5% or respondents rated the city as doing \u201cgood\u201d or \u201cexcellent\u201d on addressing homelessness, compared to 3.1% in 2022 before Mahan took office.\u00a0<\/p>\n Tiny home communities for the unhoused picked up popularity nationwide following the pandemic. Barbara Poppe, an Ohio-based homelessness expert regularly hired by cities, fears branding modular units as \u201ctiny homes\u201d has helped oversell them to budget-conscious cities.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cThe things that actually solve and stop homelessness from happening are things that need to be at a scale of investment sufficient for this large pent-up demand because there\u2019s just so many people in California who are living completely on the edge,\u201d Poppe said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Mahan has said that it would cost the city $5 billion to build permanent housing for homeless residents. Meanwhile, to build 5,000 temporary beds the city\u2019s housing department has estimated about $234 million in annual operating costs and another $255 million in one-time building costs. Housing department estimates say the costs come out to about $100,000 per unit in building costs and $61,000 per unit in annual operations. The housing department also suggested costs closer to $575 million<\/a> to the city to build permanent homes through a mix of grants, partnerships and debt financing.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThere is no question we need to get people off the streets,\u201d said Dr. Margot Kushel, head of UCSF\u2019s Benioff Homelessness Housing Initiative. \u201cThe problem is, if there\u2019s no place to go, then people stack up (in temporary housing) and stay for a really long time. There\u2019s a question of how long these shelters are even built to last. There\u2019s a reason most of us don\u2019t live in shipping containers.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Kushel recommends a framework created by Bay Area nonprofit, All Home<\/a>, that says for every one investment in shelter, a city should make two in permanent housing and four in prevention. Those investments aren\u2019t necessarily in all new construction, she said, but could be in housing subsidies or other support networks, such as cash programs that keep people from missing rent.\u00a0<\/p>\n Kushel said more emphasis needs to be placed on preventing people from landing on the streets at all, which can include funds to help with rent or legal support. Programs that show the most promise identify those at risk early, according to new research<\/a>. San Jose supports similar cash programs through a nonprofit and county partnership, but Mahan\u2019s current budget puts 10% of funds from a property tax pool toward prevention programs while the rest supports temporary housing.\u00a0<\/p>\n Ideally, those units are truly temporary, experts said, but that\u2019s a challenge in California, where housing is extraordinarily expensive.<\/p>\n