Sign our letter to the Mayor to tell him and the City Council that you do NOT agree with homeless encampments in neighborhoots at https://www.sanjoseneighbors.org/letter

Mayor Mahan, San Jose City Council, and the County Supervisors are evaluating the sanctioning of homeless tent encampments in San Jose neighborhoods. 

Currently, the mayor and Councilmember Dev Davis and Omar Torres are proposing opening two neighborhood sanctioned homeless encampments in the San Jose neighborhood of Willow Glen. One on the Valley Water site on Willow / Lelong and one on the VTA lot next to the offramp on 87 / Lelong despite a very clear "No" from the community. 

Concerned San Jose neighbors pushed back in 2019 to stop this from happening. We need your support to do it again! 

We are not opposed to sanctioned encampments - we are opposed to sanctioned encampments in neighborhoods. 

The mayor continues to site San Diego as an example of what he is trying to do. He fails to mention the encampments in San Diego are in industrial areas and have not been successful in rehabilitating, reducing homelessness, or improving conditions for San Diego overall. 

Why should you sign this petition in support? 

• The current proposed encampment on Lelong/Willow is in a flood zone.
• The site is still creek side with high risk to contaminating the waterways, endangering the animals, and overall impacting the environment. 
• The city has no ability to do drug enforcement and/or require sober living in an encampment. 
• The city has no ability to do criminal background checks or look-ups on Megan's Law to ensure those we are supporting in our neighborhood are not a danger to our children and families. These sites are less than 0.5 miles from a school
• Unlike the San Diego experiment, where encampments are in industrial areas, these would be in neighborhoods. San Diego has not been successful in rehabilitating, reducing homelessness, or improving conditions for the city overall.
• The city might decide to expand the concept to parks, churches and other areas within neighborhoods.

We urge the city officials to reconsider this decision and instead invest in long-term solutions such as affordable housing options and mental health services for those experiencing homelessness. There are other alternatives that don't involve tents in neighborhoods. 

Our elected officials need to work with the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors and the City Council to come up with plans that don't require San Jose to take on the burden for all of Santa Clara County.

As neighbors, we are pushing back!

Please join us in opposing the sanctioned homeless encampment in Willow Glen neighborhoods by signing this petition today!