The 40 acre plot of land at Guadalupe River Park in downtown San Jose provides an estimated 145 homeless with an area to reside. With this number likely under exaggerated by the city, this plot of land holds one of the biggest homeless encampments in San Jose.
However, city council members unanimously voted a few weeks ago to convert this encampment into a "recreational site" called Guadalupe Gardens with the intention of displacing the hundreds of homeless that live here. With claims of unfit living conditions and Federal Aviation Administration regulations towards the landing strip for the Mineta San Jose International Airport, officials plan to have this area cleared by June 30, 2022.
While some have voiced their concerns in the lack of plans to safely rehouse those living at the camps now, plans push forward as various sweeps are scheduled throughout the next few months. As we have seen in the history of these governmental sweeps, the people living here are treated as less than human and are pushed out with no where to go. They are given no alternative resources or housing options. They are not even assisted by police or city officials in moving their belongings, only given a day or two notice to clear out or have everything confiscated or thrown away. This does not solve the homeless problems in the area and scatters the population, forcing them to yet again find a decent place to sleep without being harassed to move.
The latest sweep, planned February 18th at 7a.m., was announced with limited information flyers to the people in the area mere days before the eviction.
Members of the Hero Tent organization as well as other community advocate groups and leaders have called for volunteers to lend a hand for those being displaced. These groups will be watching police, distributing food and drinks, and supporting the unhoused in any way possible from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.
If you cannot make this time and would like to get involved in preventing these inhumane evictions for one of the city's most vulnerable populations, there will also be a zoom meeting scheduled on next steps in this process of sweep defense (link below).
Join Zoom Meeting: Sweeps Defense
Scheduled Time: Feb 22, 2022 08:00 PM
Meeting ID: 962 0930 3907
Passcode: 836394
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