In the latest attempt to tackle the Bay Area’s growing homelessness crisis, city and county officials celebrated a milestone Monday — downtown San Jose’s first housing development dedicated exclusively to taking vulnerable residents off the streets. Villas on the Park is set to house 83 homeless residents by October 2019. And what makes the project unique is its central location, just three blocks from City Hall and one block from St. James Park, a long-standing gathering spo

Last month, the Mercury News published stories about a burned out house in San Jose’s Willow Glen neighborhood that sold for more than $900,000 and a condemned house in Fremont that fetched $1.2 million. These stories are vivid reminders of the Bay Area’s housing crisis and exemplify the dilemma faced by our residents, where even families earning six figures have trouble finding a decent place to live. A new study by the California Housing Partnership found that Bay Area resi

As development in San Jose explodes and housing prices continue to soar, the City Council on Tuesday night adopted changes to the city’s housing polices that could benefit renters and provide protections for landlords. At the Housing Department’s recommendation, the council agreed to prohibit landlords of rent-controlled apartments from dividing utility costs based on how many people live in each apartment and the unit’s size rather than how much gas or electricity they actua

The housing stock they've found is limited and what is available is usually too expensive for them to afford on their own. Many are enduring brutal commutes just to find places to live that are still within driving range of their jobs. The East Bay Times has chronicled the stories of multiple renters at various income levels across the Bay Area, and all repeat the same theme: The housing stock they've found is limited, what is available is usually too expensive for them to af

There has been some misinformation circulating regarding the proposed Bridge Housing Communities. Two of my top priorities when considering how I was going to vote on this issue were how many houseless would be served by this project, and what was the cost vs. benefit to the community. I voted the way I did for several reasons: first, the actual cost of each fully insulated unit is closer to $18,000, a more reasonable cost per sleeping cabin than the higher number circulating

In a region famed for its foodie culture, where the well-heeled can dine on gold-flecked steaks, $500 tasting menus and $29 loaves of bread, hunger is alarmingly widespread, according to a new study shared exclusively with the Guardian. One in four people in Silicon Valley are at risk of hunger, researchers at the Second Harvest food bank have found. Using hundreds of community interviews and data modeling, a new study suggests that 26.8% of the population – almost 720,000

The nation’s homeless population increased this year for the first time since 2010, driven by a surge in the number of people living on the streets in Los Angeles and other West Coast cities. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development released its annual Point in Time count Wednesday, a report that showed nearly 554,000 homeless people across the country during local tallies conducted in January. That figure is up nearly 1 percent from 2016. Of that total, 193,000 p

Sandra Robles clutched a sign with the words “Housing Justice is Racial Justice” as she waited to speak out against rent hikes that could force her out of San Jose. A row away from her, Tom Fleissner, a longtime property owner, told city lawmakers that they’re treating landlords like they’re “evil.” The stark divide between renters and landlords in San Jose grew even wider Tuesday. For the second time in the past year, city leaders rejected a proposal to tie rent increases in

With city officials considering tougher rent controls next month, a labor group Thursday released a study that showed rents in the city have risen nearly four times faster than wages. “It’s hurting our working families and seniors here in San Jose,” said Jeffrey Buchanan, policy director at Working Partnerships USA, a labor think tank that produced the report. “A growing tech sector has created thousands of jobs, but it’s also pushed the demand for housing with rents rising m

Faced with some of the most expensive rental housing in the nation, some Bay Area residents are feeling priced out and are seeking low-cost alternatives. In Silicon Valley, a hub of computer and technology companies, some people are even turning to cars, vans and RVs for housing. NewsHour Weekend Special Correspondent Joanne Elgart Jennings has the story. This is part of an ongoing series of reports called “Chasing the Dream,” which reports on poverty and opportunity in Ameri