Tiny homes may house jail diversion program for mentally ill in Santa Clara County
SAN JOSE, Calif. - Controversy is brewing over some tiny homes near Monterey and Bernal in San Jose. The existing tenants may soon be moved out, to make way for a jail diversion program for the mentally ill.
Neighbors are upset, saying they feel like there hasn't been enough time to ask questions and a city vote is looming.
Those neighbors say they just found out about the plan at a meeting last night and have lots of questions: about how it will work, who is moving in, and whether it will be safe.
"We were defrauded... 'Oh, it's a meet and greet about this project.' Nothing about a jail diversion program," says Issa Ajlouny of Safer San Jose.
The idea is that the tiny homes could be an alternative to jail for those with mental health challenges. Santa Clara County received a grant to implement the program, and now they're hoping to use that money, $8 million, to buy the site from San Jose.
"We're going to be able to release people into a safe place, and they're going to stay compliant and continue to do their treatment instead of ending up in the jail and that becomes the mental health de facto," says Gabby Olivarez, Santa Clara County Behavioral Health Services.
There will be 78 beds at the Monterey site and another 11 at a second location at the Vermont site, but residents have concerns.
They say they're not NIMBYs, but they are cautious.
"They need to go somewhere, so I think that's not a bad spot. There's really no houses close by to that," says John Hughes who lives nearby.
"We need to know, ‘What are the rules? What's going to happen?' In writing so we can ask questions and try to mitigate and make this good for the community, not just good for the county," says Ajlouny.
The San Jose City Council was set to vote on the sale on Aug. 27. Officials say operating so many tiny home sites is getting costly, and they would prefer to build more permanent housing.
"It's just unsustainable for the city, given our finances. So we're trying to figure out if it's possible we can offload it, make a little bit of money, help fund some affordable housing. But obviously, now this is happening," says Sergio Jimenez, San Jose City councilman for District 2.
And so Jimenez and Arjun Batra, whose districts border the site, are both hoping for more time. Late Friday, Batra got the vote deferred in the hopes there could be more community meetings.
"To understand and have a chance to have and express their concerns and resolve those concerns before this item comes before the council," Batra says.
The county had been hoping to spend the next couple of months helping the existing tenants find housing before launching the jail diversion program on Nov. 1.
It's still unclear when the city council vote will happen.