Before the city cleared its last large homeless encampment this spring, officials promised to provide shelter for all Jungle residents. But Carlos, 48, said outreach workers missed<\/a> him and a handful of others. When the city swept the Jungle, many of the homeless residents living there moved further down the creek by Olinder Park, to the trails behind the Interstate 280 overpass on Caltrans land.<\/p>\n \u201cI felt deceived,\u201d Carlos, who asked not to be identified by last name for privacy reasons, told San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight through a Spanish speaking translator. \u201cWe weren\u2019t taken into account \u2026 being forgotten here, it feels bad.\u201d<\/p>\n Caltrans plans to start sweeping the area north of I-280 on Monday at McLaughlin Avenue, Woodborough Place and Olinder Park until the end of October.<\/p>\n Emma Hartung, an organizer with Showing up for Racial Justice, estimates the Jungle sweep left about 40 residents without shelter, contrary to the city\u2019s claim that it housed everyone. Last week, she counted 45 homeless people living by Olinder Park, many of whom came from the Jungle, she said. This week, she saw 36 people at the encampment. A Caltrans spokesperson gave a count of 20 people in the area.<\/p>\n Hartung is among a group of advocates who have been working to secure them services. She brought about a dozen of the homeless residents to the San Jose Housing Department office last week to see if city officials could provide them housing ahead of the Caltrans sweep. When she returned the next day with six residents, she said housing officials called the police, which prompted them to leave.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re disappointed city housing sent (the San Jose Police Department) instead of meeting with their own constituents who they had promised housing to in March,\u201d Hartung told San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight. \u201cBut (homeless) residents and their supporters remain ready to meet with city housing and Caltrans to arrive at a solution that will enable them to stay here or stay somewhere stable while they wait out this rainy winter and wait for their housing.\u201d<\/p>\n Housing spokesperson Sarah Fields said the department couldn\u2019t comment on the history of people engaged in homeless services.<\/p>\n \u201cHowever, it is worth noting that the city practice when a large-scale encampment abatement is scheduled is to provide significant outreach and engagement prior to the start of the abatement,\u201d she told San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight. \u201cThat was the case at Coyote Meadows.\u201d<\/p>\n While Mayor Matt Mahan claims people who reject shelter don\u2019t want to be housed, leading him to push for citations and arrests of those who repeatedly refuse housing<\/a>, Assemblymember Ash Kalra said these residents want to be housed. His district covers East San Jose and South Santa Clara County.<\/p>\n Kalra\u2019s office has been involved with helping these homeless residents obtain identification cards, and has been pushing for the sweep to be delayed until people are housed.<\/p>\n \u201cI think sweeping someone away from a place where they have some degree of stability without offering them housing is cruel,\u201d Kalra told San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight. \u201cThere are things (San Jose)\u00a0can do to make the conditions there better for both themselves as well as surrounding neighborhoods, like restrooms or dumpsters. I would encourage that until they\u2019re able to find them housing. But to suggest that somehow these folks have rejected housing is simply not true.\u201d<\/p>\n Caltrans spokesperson Pedro Quintana said they work with local agencies to help people find shelter options.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen Caltrans prepares to remove an encampment that presents a threat to infrastructure or people, Caltrans notifies social service providers and local governments of the estimated removal date and time so that those providers can conduct outreach to connect people experiencing homelessness with essential services and available shelter (or) housing options that can be used now or in the future,\u201d Quintana told San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight.<\/p>\n Not everyone at the camp went under the radar when outreach workers first contacted residents ahead of the Jungle sweep. Some homeless residents such as Jobino Medina Sarabia received a shelter placement in the Cerone tiny home village in North San Jose. But he said he couldn\u2019t accept it because it was too far from the things he needed, including his doctor in East San Jose.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s nothing close by,\u201d he told San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight through a Spanish speaking translator. \u201cThat isn\u2019t housing, they basically made a new prison and sent people there.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/IMG_9718-1024x768.jpeg\")
Caltrans will sweep this homeless encampment in East San Jose, after people who lived in another nearby camp called \u201cThe Jungle\u201d moved there. Photo by Joyce Chu.<\/p>\n![\"homeless](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/IMG_9712-1024x768.jpeg\")
Advocates are calling for a delay of the encampment sweep until the homeless residents living there are provided housing. Photo by Joyce Chu.<\/p>\n
![\"In-line](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1791665652_264_interactive-321838904008.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n