SAN JOSE, Calif. \u2014 The City of San Jose, like other major California cities, has struggled with homelessness for decades. But in the largest city in the Bay Area, one encampment and the city\u2019s response showcase successes and hardship in a complex system.<\/p>\n
What You Need To Know<\/p>\n
The homeless encampment mentioned is just south of downtown, nestled across from a family zoo, and called \u201cThe Jungle\u201d
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It\u2019s a name possibly familiar to people in Silicon Valley who remember its existence in the mid 2010s
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\u00a0The city is sweeping it again, but Mayor Matt Mahan said this time is different
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Mahan has long stated his plans of prioritizing more quick-build temporary shelters such as converted motels, tiny homes and tent sites<\/p>\n
The homeless encampment mentioned is just south of downtown, nestled across from a family zoo, and called \u201cThe Jungle.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a name possibly familiar to people in Silicon Valley who remember its existence in the mid 2010s. The city swept it then, only for it to reappear in recent years. The city is sweeping it again, but Mayor Matt Mahan said this time is different.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy giving people dignity, we can restore the natural habitat and make it cleaner and safer for everyone,\u201d Mahan said. \u201cI\u2019m proud of the progress made in San Jose. It\u2019s a model for the rest of the state.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mahan has long stated his plans of prioritizing more quick-build temporary shelters such as converted motels, tiny homes and tent sites. In doing this, he took money away from long-term affordable and transitional housing. Over the years, his administration said it\u2019s opened more than one-thousand shelter beds.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn San Jose, we\u2019re steadily reducing unsheltered homelessness by creating alternatives and holding them accountable,\u201d Mahan said.<\/p>\n
As more shelter spaces open up, the city is sweeping more encampments. In 2025, the city swept an encampment south of the San Jose Mineta International Airport, which was home to hundreds of people. Now, doing the same at \u201cThe Jungle.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mahan, who is running for California governor, said he wants to implement this strategy statewide to reduce unsheltered homelessness. Those experiencing encampment sweeps, though, said not everything goes smooth.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t believe anything these people say,\u201d Martin Nava, a homeless resident of \u201cThe Jungle\u201d said.<\/p>\n
Nava told Spectrum News that he has been homeless off and on for years. He said city workers tried to connect him to a shelter before sweeping his tent from the jungle, but said no one followed up with him.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople\u2019s lives are at stake and look now. I haven\u2019t heard from them, not even a phone call,\u201d Nava said.<\/p>\n
Maria Vargas, another \u201cJungle\u201d resident, said the same issue happened to her.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m upset about it, and I was hoping for a little tiny home,\u201d Vargas said. \u201cWhat does that say to the people who were left behind? They\u2019re not giving me housing.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Vargas and Nava were first interviewed in April, the two were searching for a new encampment to call home.<\/p>\n
San Jose\u2019s housing department sent Spectrum News a statement stating it couldn\u2019t confirm individual cases of homeless people experiencing issues.<\/p>\n
It did state it met one-on-one with people leftover at the encampment who did complain.<\/p>\n
Nava and Vargas have since been sheltered, according to homeless advocates who are in contact with them, but still visit \u201cThe Jungle\u201d every day.<\/p>\n
Vargas told Spectrum News that several dozen individuals still live in the encampment as the city continues its sweep.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN JOSE, Calif. \u2014 The City of San Jose, like other major California cities, has struggled with homelessness…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":327991,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[43387,5997,7,1493,136246,88,90,89,5999,136,5996],"class_list":["post-329128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-app-homelessness","tag-app-local-state-politics","tag-california","tag-homelessness","tag-jack-molmud","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news","tag-socal-what-you-need-to-know","tag-top-stories","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329128","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=329128"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329128\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/327991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=329128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=329128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=329128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}