Why won’t the county supes use their unused land to help the homeless?

In 2016, county voters passed Measure A, a $950 million (no typo) property tax increase to generate 4800 new housing units, focused on the chronically homeless. Since then, the county has built at whopping 214 (no typo) units. Planning Commissioner Pierluigi Oliverio wonders why we’re raising taxes to not build anything when the county fairgrounds may be a solution staring us in the face.

Santa Clara County’s 158-acre fairgrounds property has more than 100,000 square feet of covered structures, 10 restroom facilities, an industrial kitchen, refrigeration and storage, existing bus lines and acres of under-utilized land. Once established, homeless individuals (including animal companions) should be strongly encouraged to vacate encampments in neighborhoods to receive assistance they need, whether it be for the severely mentally ill, drug-addicted, or those economically marginalized. Humanitarian zones require robust public reporting of what help is provided, where individuals are from, and how many times assistance is refused. If such individuals refuse services repeatedly, then we must make the hard decision that they cannot be allowed to stay in our neighborhoods. Every solution requires a difficult decision to be made.

Read the whole thing here.

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