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FAA Raises Issues Over Sprawling Homeless Encampment Close to San Jose Airport – CBS San Francisco

SAN JOSE (KPIX 5) – A sprawling homeless camp in the shadow of Mineta San Jose International Airport has caught the attention of Federal Aviation Administration officials who have asked city officials to clean it up.

Some call it “The Crash Zone” and it has grown dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic. The camp now spans nearly a mile and is littered with discarded debris and makeshift living quarters.

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“Every single tree out here has RVs, cars, tents,” said Scott Largent, a homeless man who gave KPIX a tour of the grounds. “I would say there are almost 600 people out here.”

The population is around 200 recently, according to Neil Rufino, Assistant Director of Parks, Recreation, & Neighborhood Services.

However, from informal conversations with San Jose police officers patrolling the area, business owners have been told that the population in the area roughly bordered by Coleman Avenue, Hedding Street and the Guadalupe River is 400 to 500.

San Jose Homeless Camp KPIX 5

In comparison, the notorious “jungle” on Story and Senter Road housed around 250 residents. In 2014 it was considered the largest homeless camp in the country at the time. Its dismantling made international headlines.

With no long-term housing for the jungle residents, the homeless poured into the surrounding neighborhoods and shops in the hours and days that followed the closure.

“I would call this Jungle 2.0 out here,” Largent said

The city of San Jose put all homeless camps on hold in the early days of the pandemic, as per CDC guidelines. In the months that followed, the population of the so-called Spring Street area boomed.

During a recent tour, almost all of the trees and shrubs were used as shade for temporary housing. A loose network of dirt roads meanders through mountains of rubbish, burned out mobile homes, a cemetery of discarded equipment, paved residential buildings. The smell of garbage and smoke was in the air.

Largent made a note of staying in the middle of busy common areas so as not to worry long-time residents. Largent, who lives in an RV, said the hundreds of people in the camp have the full range of social and mental services they need.

“There are a lot of people who just need help,” said Largent, adding that he doesn’t feel safe in the area.

With the warehouse located under an airport runway, its growing size has caught the FAA’s attention. With air traffic recovering from the pandemic, commercial aircraft and private jets glide overhead every few minutes.

The FAA has sent two letters asking the city of San Jose to come up with a plan to deport the homeless by June 30th.

“Please provide the FAA with a revised plan that will result in the city taking an immediate more active role in the relocation of the homeless,” the FAA wrote on May 17. just to ensure that the use of airport properties does not solve the crisis. “

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First, the FAA set a June 30 deadline to respond with a plan to remove the bearings. But SJC has requested an extension to July 31, according to the airport’s Public Information Manager, Keonnis Taylor.

According to local activist Shaunn Cartwright, homeless attorneys became aware of the FAA’s letters on Monday, June 21. By Wednesday June 23, leaflets were posted in the camp warning of the impending cleanup, asking to leave by June 28 or to be charged with trespassing and prosecution.

Also on June 23, a clean-up team made up of more than a dozen workers arrived at the camps with a dump truck.

“Everything [the FAA letter] puts pressure on the city to get rid of everyone, ”said Cartwright. “And it seems like the city is complying. The residents say there is nowhere to go. “

Camp resident Kelly Goodman repeated these feelings.

“We’re human too,” Goodman told KPIX 5. “We’re just asking for a little help. That’s all. That’s it.”

Cartwright questioned the city’s efforts given its timing and proximity to the public release of the FAA letter. On top of that, the FAA letters are likely to lead city officials to rush and evacuate the camps without a clear, long-term plan for housing residents.

“We know the sweeps are coming. All it does is pressure the city to get rid of everyone. And it seems like the city is complying, ”said Cartwright.

Rufino, who oversees the ongoing cleanup in the camps, said there would be no cleanup for at least several weeks and that the crews had tried to notify residents only of a cleanup, not a cleanup, this week. Rufino said the highly worded leaflets were required by law, but he acknowledged the panic and fear they caused.

“I think we can definitely look at the language of this flyer,” said Rufino.

As for the city’s approach to the Spring Street area, Rufino said she was compassionate. The city will provide mobile toilets and garbage disposal throughout the pandemic.

“How can we coexist in the city? We are a big city and we will have constant worries and challenges with the homeless. We don’t have enough affordable or low-income housing to accommodate everyone. And we know that it is not a sustainable safe place for them. So we had to figure out how to make this space manageable. If people live in this room now, can we keep it clean enough? ”Said Rufino.

In response to a KPIX 5 query on Friday evening, Taylor said the airport’s plans for a gate or fence around the property were “still under development.”

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Regarding the dismantling of the homeless camp, “The plans are still under development and have not been finalized at this point,” said Taylor.

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