Homeless people living in their RVs will soon be able to sleep safely in an authorized location in South San Jose.

City officials told homeless advocates this week that San Jose is almost ready to sign a 5-year lease with VTA to start a new secure parking program in the Santa Teresa train station parking lot. The program will be run by LifeMoves, a nonprofit organization that has run secure parking programs in San Jose before.

“We are in the final stages with (VTA) to complete our tenancy agreement,” Vanessa Beretta, a City Homelessness Response Team manager, told Advocates earlier this week. City and county officials meet with South Bay homeless advocates every two weeks to provide updates on housing initiatives and projects. A recording of the meeting was obtained by San José Spotlight.

City officials told San Jose Spotlight that the contract will need to be approved by the city council and declined to share further details.

Council member Sergio Jimenez has spent years lobbying for safe parking programs in south San Jose. The VTA car park was once in his district but is now under council member Matt Mahan’s purview after the redistricting process redefined policy lines. Jimenez said his office continues to closely monitor the project.

“I recognize that this won’t solve the whole problem,” Jimenez told San Jose Spotlight, “But I think for every council member, we all have an obligation to step up and do what we can, so I see this as just a slice of this.”

Advocates, who have long noted the lack of homeless services in the area, said the program would be a good addition to South San Jose.

“It’s long overdue,” RJ Ramsey, a homeless person turned lawyer, told San Jose Spotlight. “When shelters open, food programs become available, they rarely go to the south side. I hope this is the start of more services.

San Jose first explored secure parking programs in 2019 at the Seven Trees Community Center parking lot. The program was shut down in less than a year due to security concerns and lack of participation. The city also funded two other sites, at the Roosevelt and Southside Community Centers, but closed last year when the contract with LifeMoves expired.

Mahan did not respond to inquiries about the new program in his district.

Who can use it?

City officials told homeless advocates they hope to open the program by late summer or early fall. The car park has approximately 1,100 parking spaces.

“This place is perfect,” attorney Francesca Paist told San José Spotlight. “The question is who will be able to use it?”

The safe parking program comes as San Jose steps up efforts to clean up sprawling encampments near Columbus Park where several hundred people live in squalid conditions. The city began towing vehicles out of the area near Columbus Park and along the Guadalupe River Trail this week, with plans for cleanup — and possibly sweeping — in the coming months.

The site is on airport property under the direct flight path of the downtown San Jose airport, raising safety concerns. The FAA has threatened to withhold millions of dollars in federal funding if the city fails to clear the grounds by June 30.

Scott Largent, a homeless Columbus Park resident and activist, said the city should prioritize the most vulnerable population — the elderly, people with disabilities, women — and those who want help. at the camp.

“For example, Rudy (Ortega) who’s right next to me, he doesn’t have a criminal record, he just had a hard time,” Largent said, naming several other older women in the camp. “I think they could be removed from their situation.”

Jimenez and Paist see things differently. They are advocating for homeless residents of south San Jose to be at the top of the list, not people in the encampment near Columbus Park. Jimenez said he lobbied for the project to address homelessness in that area, not the entire city.

“It may not be nice to say, but I’m not in favor of bringing all the RVs from (Columbus Park) here,” Jimenez said, adding that other areas should also find their own secure parking sites in their neighborhood.

Ramsey, who lived in south San Jose when he was unhoused, said it was a tough call. But he said services and programs should go to those who live near Columbus Park.

“There is no place to go,” he said. “I understand the council member’s point of view, but we have a serious situation that needed to be resolved there.”

Contact Tran Nguyen at [email protected] or follow @nguyenntrann on Twitter.