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San Jose Neighbors Push Back Against Tiny Homes For The Homeless

SAN JOSE (KPIX 5) -- A popular neighborhood park in San Jose could be part of the homeless solution, but the people who live nearby are saying: not so fast.

There's some outcry from San Jose homeowners in the Cambrian neighborhood who recently found out tiny homes for the homeless could be built right next door to them.

Real estate agent Jessica Hooley moved into the neighborhood three years ago. She says she's an advocate for the homeless but that she's opposed to tiny homes in her neighborhood.

But Hooley said, "...we do have to support the homeless and we do have a growing concern about the homeless here. But not in a neighborhood where there's children."

She says she chose the Cambrian area because of her neighbors, who she says give the neighborhood "the nice close-knit family feel that we have because of the parks."

But, now they've learned they could be getting new neighbors.

The city is eyeing a parcel of vacant land to build 20 tiny homes where the homeless would live. It's across from a popular park and adjacent to a home.

Hooley said, "They say it's going to be about 20 homeless that would be here. But 20 leads to them telling their friends and it could be 60 to 100."

San Jose's deputy director of housing, Ray Bramson, says the city is listening to all community input, holding meetings after putting out a list of the nearly 100 city owned or city leased sites where the tiny homes could be built in each of the city's ten districts.

"It's a difficult process. There isn't a lot of available land, "Bramson said.

Bramson explained that "...this first initial list is just city owned parcels. We looked at all of the surplus parcels in the city's inventory and now we're going out to the communities, saying 'hey this is what we have. What else do you think might be a good idea?'"

But Hooley wants more information.

"We don't know what's going to happen, who's going to monitor it. We haven't gotten all those kinds of details," she said.

The tiny homes would be taken down in 2022, when the law sunsets. The homes are expected to go up next year.

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