That trust is harder to build when people are being moved by the city.<\/p>\n
Sarah Fields, deputy director of the San Jos\u00e9 Housing Department, said the city does not describe its encampment work as sweeps. The city uses the word abatement, she said, because the process is not sudden.<\/p>\n
Before the April 15 abatement at Coyote Meadows, the area also known as \u201cthe Jungle,\u201d Fields said the city posted signs in English, Spanish and Vietnamese about six weeks in advance. Outreach workers from the city, PATH and Amigos de Guadalupe visited the site during that period and built a list of more than 100 people interested in moving into noncongregate shelters.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is not healthy or safe for someone to be living outdoors,\u201d Fields said.<\/p>\n
But she acknowledged the city does not have enough beds for everyone. Fields reports that San Jose has more than 6,000 people experiencing homelessness and just over 2,000 shelter beds under the city\u2019s purview.<\/p>\n
The wider San Jos\u00e9\/Santa Clara City & County Continuum of Care counted 9,903 homeless people in 2023, down 1% from the year before, according to a HUD performance profile<\/a>. But the same report showed 6,103 people experiencing homelessness for the first time, a 23% increase. Chronically homeless individuals rose 29%, even as emergency shelter beds grew 29%.<\/p>\n