New San José Tiny Homes for Unhoused Open Next to Former Encampment

A new village of tiny homes for people experiencing homelessness opened Monday along the Guadalupe River in San José, as city officials work to clear encampments along the riverbed and move unhoused residents into a growing system of temporary housing.

The 136-bed development sits on land owned by the Santa Clara Valley Water District, adjacent to a recently cleared encampment clustered underneath Highway 85. The ribbon-cutting for the Cherry Avenue Interim Housing Community marks the latest in the city’s ambitious program of shelter expansion.

“In just 10 months, we’ve opened eleven communities like this one, that are helping people get off the streets and get on with their lives,” Mayor Matt Mahan said on Monday.

The city council is investing tens of millions of dollars to build nearly two dozen interim housing sites, which include tiny homes, converted motels and parking lots for RVs. Mahan has argued that housing can be constructed more quickly than affordable apartment buildings, while providing more desirable living conditions than a congregate shelter.

The detached units at Cherry Avenue each contain a bed and an HVAC system. Residents will be able to access bathrooms, laundry, prepared food and social workers in separate buildings.

The project was approved by the city council in 2023 and was backed by city and state dollars, along with private contributions from developer John Sobrato and Good Samaritan Hospital. The city broke ground on the development in January and residents will begin moving in by the end of the month.

Unlike many shelter projects, Councilmember Pam Foley said the Cherry Avenue development faced no opposition from the surrounding community, which includes residents of the Robertsville and Erikson neighborhoods and businesses in the Almaden Ranch shopping center.

“This is the first and only project that hasn’t had the community members push back in a negative way,” Foley said. “The Erikson neighbors have been fundraising and organizing to create welcome baskets for the new residents who will soon call this home.”

Under city policy, people experiencing homelessness near a new interim housing site are given the first offer to move in. For years, dozens of tents lined the Guadalupe River roughly a hundred yards from the Cherry Avenue shelter.

On Monday, the riverbed was clear of tents, the result of a sweep that took place this summer. San José Housing Director Erik Soliván said the city logged the names and contact information for roughly 40 people who were living in the encampment.

“As the process moved forward of clearing the encampment, we maintained contact with those individuals,” Soliván said. “That set of individuals who were cleared … will be the first ones to move into this site, as they’ll get the first offers.”

Gail Osmer, an advocate for the unhoused, spent years bringing food, blankets and other necessities to people in the riverbank encampment. She said many of the people living in the encampment were moved into other temporary housing facilities after the abatement.

“People are happy, I talked to people at the other sites,” Osmer said. “I don’t know if anybody is going to be coming [back] here … but people were happy to go inside — they don’t want to live out in the elements.”