San Jose will pilot tiny homes for homeless

The city is looking at three different sites to build dozens of tiny homes that would provide temporary housing for the homeless. The homes would primarily be for the 3-5 year period between qualifying for housing assistance and when an actual housing unit is available.

Gensler designed the tiny homes, which are designed for 1-2 people and are essentially boxes with separate common areas for bathrooms and cooking.

Before you become concerned that these will pop up in your neighborhood, all three locations are not exactly desirable areas. One is proposed for the southwest quadrant of the 280/680/101 freeway interchange, another is on a VTA staging area on Mabury Road, and the last is at the intersection of Hellyer Avenue and Silicon Valley Boulevard.

I feel like this is a great initiative to house those that need it the most. However, I am also a bit concerned that the more resources we provide, the more homeless will migrate to the area (look at San Francisco as an example). We should really prioritize temporary housing for those that were born-and-raised in San Jose, if we don't do this already. There needs to be some balance between taking care of our own and not becoming a haven for homeless from other regions. Knowing that locals are living here and not transients would also go a long way towards getting public support of these projects, which are very necessary.

Source: SVBJ