Still No Place To Go For Silicon Valleys Homeless Population; Meeting To Be Held March 31, 2015

SAN JOSE, Calif. - March 30, 2015 - PRLog -- Sponsored by CHAM and H.O.M.E.L.E.S.S., a group of homeless people, advocates, and people of faith will gather at the former site of the “Jungle” homeless encampment at 12 noon on Cesar Chavez Day, Tuesday March 31.

The meeting will address the injury of a homeless woman last Friday while Caltrans was bulldozing her tent in a “clean-up” near Story Road. Thousands of Silicon Valley’s homeless still have no place to lay their heads  at night, almost four months after the Jungle was destroyed by the City of San Jose on December 4, 2014. In fact, the situation will get worse on Wednesday, when the County winter shelter program discharges an additional estimated 270 homeless out onto the streets.

People who were evicted from the Jungle have moved and been displaced over and over with no end in sight. Some moved to the Walmart parking lot, then Roberts Road, then south of Tully, then to Phelan at the railroad tracks, then north of Tully, then to Monterey Highway, then to Almaden Road, and they are still moving.

When questioned by the Board of Supervisors on March 24, County officials stated that there are some 5300-5400 homeless for whom there is no housing or shelter available. When asked for their plan to address the situation, they responded, “There is no proposal at this time.”

Having no proposal to house or shelter the homeless is not acceptable in the richest area in the world. A five-year plan is not acceptable, because people have no place to go right now. They are persecuted with endless nightmare evictions, harassment, criminalization, and frequent seizure of their personal belongings.

Cesar Chavez dedicated his life to organizing for justice for the poor, and San Jose’s homeless and their allies are building a movement for the same cause.

We call for an immediate commitment by elected officials to affordable housing for the homeless and for all people in need in Silicon Valley. While housing is being built, we call for establishment of legal campgrounds with appropriate sanitary facilities and trash disposal. Finally, we call on the state legislature to enact SB 608, the “Right to Rest Law”, that would outlaw discrimination against homeless people in public places.

Join  the Meeting at 12 NOON TUESDAY, MARCH 31

PLACE: THE FORMER “JUNGLE” ENCAMPMENT, SENTER & STORY ROAD, SAN JOSE

Please allow time for parking on Twelfth Street, near Kelley Park, or at Walmart.

Media Contact: Sandy Perry perrysandy@aol.com