Crews Clear Homeless Encampment Near San Jose Freeways
SAN JOSE (KPIX 5) – Cleanup efforts were underway Wednesday at a homeless encampment near two freeways in North San Jose.
The encampment, nestled in between Interstate 880 and Highway 87 can only be accessed from the freeway. It stretches more than a quarter mile along the sound wall, encompassing nearly 20 acres.
Crews, which have dubbed the encampment "The Jungle Part 2," said 40 to 50 people have scattered away from the site. Workers, who were on their third day of the cleanup on Wednesday, said they are nowhere being close to done.
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Some of the squatters may have been skilled electricians. Wires were spliced into high voltage electrical lines to steal electricity, powering microwave ovens and refrigerators.
Neighbors said one of the people stole a drone that was delivered to a porch and buzzed the neighborhood before crashing the drone into a tree.
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The City of San Jose said they're making big strides in moving people out of these encampments. Back in 2013, they counted about 1,200 living in camps. Last year that number dropped to below 800.
"We did have a decrease in homelessness, 15 percent decrease from 2015 to 2013," Housing Division Manager Roy Bramson said.
Bramson, who leads the city's efforts to battle homelessness, said the city has dedicated millions of dollars in funding to cleanup and build both temporary and permanent housing.
"We still have an enormous challenge here that we face every day," Bramson said. "It takes a lot of time and a lot of effort and a lot of resources to make a change in our community, but I think we're at the beginning of a very, very promising trend for people in need here."
San Jose has been working on a "safe parking" program that will allow people to sleep in their cars. That program is set to launch this summer.