How progressive.
Via Mercury News:
Amid neighborhood backlash, city leaders have pared back one of San Jose’s most creative ideas for housing its thousands of homeless — erecting shed-like “tiny homes” for them — from 99 potential sites to just four.
The tiny homes, usually about 70 square-feet, are temporary sleeping cabins with doors and windows. Other states like Oregon have used them to house the homeless, and a bill by former Assemblywoman Nora Campos, allowed San Jose to build the unconventional structures to get people off the streets amid a housing crisis.
But finding sites for the tiny home villages — which could house up to 25 people — proved to be a major challenge. The city looked for publicly owned sites that were a half-acre in size, near transit and with access to utilities. But after an outpouring of complaints, San Jose officials added even more restrictions — 100 feet away from homes and creeks and 150 feet from schools and parks, leaving just a handful of potential sites.
“It’s a shame that we didn’t have more viable opportunities from this list,” said Ray Bramson, the city’s acting deputy director of housing. “But we were constrained because land is so hard to find in this community. Some of the major concerns that we heard were about the potential impacts, from traffic to noise to new people coming into the neighborhood. We’re trying to be respectful of neighbors and the community.”
Campos said Friday she’s “disappointed” with San Jose’s new criteria and that the city is missing an opportunity to use her bill to “lead the charge” on reducing homelessness.
“They’re almost segregating homeless families from existing neighborhoods and that’s not what San Jose is about,” Campos said. “If we can do this right and not give in to NIMBY-ism, then we set the path for other cities in California to address the homeless crisis in their own communities. This sends the wrong message.”
HT: Wirecutter