San Jose homeless camp cleanup proceeds with caution as heat wave looms
SAN JOSE – The clearing of hundreds of homeless encampments on Spring Street in San Jose had been planned for a year. But it's happening now, in the middle of a heat wave.
City crews are scooping up the debris, while the people who once lived here struggle to stay one step ahead of the bulldozers.
"They have to stop at a certain time, with the heat," said Gail Osmer, a homeless advocate.
Osmer said the city agreed to call off starting new camp evictions anytime the temperature goes above 88 degrees.
"Nobody wants to be out there, the workers or the unhoused," Osmer said.
Because of the heat, evictions cut off at about 1 p.m., giving people like Damon extra time to pack up.
But he's not protesting, he hates it here.
"The best thing that any of us can really do is leave. The fact that we are now being forced to is no fun, but it needs to happen," Damon said.
Damon has lived in the camp since April, and calls it a last resort. He lives in a tarp and cardboard structure that got infested with rats.
"The rats moved in under me and they are foul creatures. I don't know who invented those things, but they should be fired," Damon said.
He's been sleeping on some salvaged car seats, but he just got into some interim housing, in a city-run tiny home community in South San Jose.
"It's not really a home, it's more like a cell that they give you a key to," Damon said.
Other camp residents are trying to squeeze out a few more weeks by moving their RVs into a more organized camp near some ballfields.
"We had to pull 'em, push 'em. And people come help to push 'em, just so they don't lose their house," said Maria Fierro.
The city said has housed 143 people from the Spring Street camps since last September and is working to find and gain the trust of others to move them into temporary or long-term homes.