While temporary housing may provide a place to shower, sleep and eat, many former Columbus Park residents feel stuck in limbo, unsure of where they\u2019ll go next \u2014 or when they might get kicked out, throwing them back on the streets.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne year later, not much has unfortunately changed. People are still displaced,\u201d homeless advocate Jennette Holzworth told San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight. \u201cThere\u2019s not an opportunity for people to get any kind of real stability so they can get their lives together. I\u2019m not going to necessarily say that the conditions in Columbus Park were humanitarian and humane, but people had autonomy there.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Tiny](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/IMG_8502-1024x768.jpg\")
The Via Del Oro temporary shelter site can house up to 150 people and has shared village bathrooms and kitchen spaces. Photo by Joyce Chu.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for Mahan said the city has been clearing encampments while undertaking the largest shelter expansion in the state last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe city will continue providing pathways to housing, but participants must meet us halfway by accepting appropriate placements when they become available and engaging with supportive services so we can help the next person come off the streets,\u201d spokesperson Seamus Gann told San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight.<\/p>\n
Holzworth works closely with Columbus Park residents who the city placed in Motel 6<\/a>, one of the five motels the city converted into shelter last summer. The motel is run by nonprofit WeHope.<\/p>\n Multiple cameras onsite make residents feel they are constantly being watched. Strict rules such as no visitors and only being allowed two trash bags of belongings have caused residents to feel under pressure to not be written up, which could lead to termination from the housing program, Holzworth and a Motel 6 resident told San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight.<\/p>\n In addition, residents said they have gotten written up for violating the rules without being informed.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s this deep sense of constantly being watched at Motel 6,\u201d Holzworth said. \u201cFolks live in a lot of fear. They\u2019re afraid because they\u2019re going to get kicked out.\u201d<\/p>\n WeHope Chief Operating Officer Alicia Garcia said there may be things a worker has talked to a resident about and keeps note of in their file, but it\u2019s not necessarily a formal write up. She said terminating someone from the program is a last resort and that a resident gets multiple opportunities to change their behavior if it\u2019s a minor issue. Serious offenses such as having weapons can lead to an immediate termination for the safety of other participants.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t ever like to have to exit a person because that means that that person returns to homelessness. That is the last thing we want to do, because for us, when they succeed, we succeed,\u201d Garcia told San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight. \u201cBut unfortunately, some people make really poor decisions, and we do our best.\u201d<\/p>\n A flawed policy\u00a0<\/p>\n To encourage circulation out of the motels, residents are told the next step in their journey to permanent housing is a tiny home.<\/p>\n Motel residents are given up to three offers for housing, often to tiny homes. If they decline all three offers, they are given a 30-day notice before they are terminated from the program. Residents said this has forced them to take less desirable options. They said tiny homes have less space, stricter rules and less privacy than the motels.<\/p>\n James and his wife Arielle reluctantly gave up their RV in Columbus Park in exchange for $2,000 as part of the city\u2019s buyback program<\/a>. They moved first to Alura Inn<\/a>, where they said it felt like living in a mini-studio. They asked not to use their last name for privacy reasons.<\/p>\n However, case managers continued to push the tiny home option on them. On the third offer, they saw no choice but to move into the Cerone Yard tiny home site in North San Jose.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel like I was forced to do it under duress,\u201d Arielle told San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight.<\/p>\n Residents don\u2019t have their own bathrooms at Cerone, making it difficult for Arielle, who has fibromyalgia, to travel to the restroom. She said workers at Cerone, managed by nonprofit HomeFirst, haven\u2019t accommodated her ADA needs.<\/p>\n Staff has been slow to respond to other issues. She said her broken bed frame had to collapse before they replaced it. The AC hasn\u2019t worked since she moved in, and it hasn\u2019t been fixed.<\/p>\n \u201cI am completely disregarded here,\u201d Arielle said. \u201cI would rather be back in Columbus, or back in Alura. I\u2019m saving money to buy an RV, that\u2019s how bad it is.\u201d<\/p>\n A HomeFirst representative told San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight they couldn\u2019t immediately respond to Arielle\u2019s claims.<\/p>\n Sarah Fields, spokesperson for the San Jose Housing Department, said the three offers of housing policy is meant to encourage movement through the city\u2019s temporary housing portfolio.<\/p>\n But it\u2019s unclear how the city gets residents to the final placement \u2014 permanent housing \u2014 and Fields could not say how many former Columbus Park residents have been placed in permanent housing since last year\u2019s sweep.<\/p>\n \u201cThe throughput model emphasizes addressing needs and providing support throughout the journey out of homelessness and into stability,\u201d Fields told San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight. \u201cTo encourage movement across the city\u2019s shelter portfolio, participants are required to accept placement at an interim housing site that offers more services and on-site staffing.\u201d<\/p>\n Multiple residents who spoke with San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight said a majority of people living in the motels have either moved to tiny homes or have been involuntarily exited from the motels. A handful have found permanent housing on their own.<\/p>\n Declining mental health<\/p>\n Homeless residents called Columbus Park<\/a> home for years before the city set up fences and barricaded the area. The park drew hundreds of people like magnets \u2014 those who had lost jobs, experienced traumatic events and deaths of family members or were evicted because they could no longer afford to pay rent<\/a>.<\/p>\n RVs packed the fields and basketball courts. Cars lined several blocks of streets around the park. Trash and debris accumulated in piles. Amid the chaos, residents formed deep bonds with each other and found family.<\/p>\n The city\u2019s sweep of the park also dismantled people\u2019s sense of community, and as a result their mental health has taken a toll, former Columbus resident Robert Gilman said.<\/p>\n \u201cMy depression has gotten worse. When we were in the park, a majority of us were happier out there,\u201d Gilman, who was moved into the Casa Linda motel, told San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight. \u201cThe depression rate has skyrocketed amongst everybody because they\u2019ve done such a good job of isolating us.\u201d \u201cWe were forced into housing. I do want help and I do want housing, but not like this,\u201d he told San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight. \u201cI\u2019m just kind of in a waiting room, I\u2019m just waiting for them to kick me out. I\u2019ve already picked a spot out in the world where I\u2019m going to set up again, only this time it\u2019s got to be more concealed.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/IMG_2389-1024x768.jpg\")
Alura Inn is one of five motels San Jose converted into temporary housing for homeless people in summer 2025. Photo by Joyce Chu.<\/p>\n![\"In-line](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/interactive-321838904008.png\")
<\/a>Gilman said he\u2019s worse off than when he lived out of his van in Columbus Park. He\u2019s without a van now, and doesn\u2019t feel any closer to getting housing.<\/p>\n