San Jose City Council surprised by county jail diversion plan

Surprised by Santa Clara County's plan to buy up temporary housing projects in South San Jose for a prison diversion program, City Councilman Arjun Batra has joined his constituents in fighting what he calls a “dangerous proposal.”

In an interview with The Mercury News, Batra said he was kept in the dark and only learned of the county's intentions at a town hall meeting two weeks ago, even though the county has had its sights set on a property bordering the 10th District, which he represents, since the spring.

“I am absolutely opposed to having this location in South San Jose,” Batra said. “A facility that brings individuals from the prison diversion program into our community and close to children, schools and families is completely unacceptable.”

The San Jose City Council was originally scheduled to discuss the $8 million sale of the properties at 6066 Monterey Road and 1072-1082 Vermont Street on Tuesday before Batra and District 7 Councilman Bien Doan asked the city manager's office to adjourn the discussion.

An official with the Santa Clara County Department of Behavioral Health Services told The Mercury News last week that they had been working with city officials on the site use changes after receiving two grants from the California Health Facilities Financing Authority to facilitate the transaction.

The goal of the program is to “improve residents’ well-being, promote their recovery, and facilitate their transition to long-term housing” while providing them with an alternative to incarceration.

While these sites are supposed to have 24-hour security, the county pointed out that the state's criminal code requires that participants in diversion programs “not pose an unreasonable threat to public safety,” the court found.

San Jose has hired Abode Services to manage the Vermont Street site, while HomeFirst Services manages the 2.37-acre transitional housing site on Monterey Road, which can accommodate 78 people. San Jose estimates that by transferring the Monterey Road property to the county, it could save at least $2.5 million a year on what it currently spends on the site.

In addition to the potential safety risks, Batra expressed frustration with broken promises regarding the operation of the transitional housing and with South San Jose taking on more than what he believes is its fair share of solutions to homelessness. There are hundreds of transitional housing facilities within a one-mile radius in South San Jose.

“South San Jose will not let itself down any longer,” he said.

During the first budget meetings, he was led to believe that the county wanted to take over the Monterey Road property and continue to use it as a temporary housing project, Batra said.

Instead, there was an “unacceptable breach of trust” when Batra told housing officials that they had to be transparent about the process.

George Casey and Joe Lopez, candidates for the 10th and 2nd districts, respectively, also expressed their opposition, complaining about the perceived secrecy surrounding the county's plans.

“We need programs that allow people to turn their lives around – in fact, I've seen this happen countless times during my career as a police officer,” Lopez said. “But the fact remains that residents of this community were not given transparency about how this system would work, and we deserve answers from the county.”

While Batra has vowed to torpedo the county's plan, he said Tuesday's postponement of the agenda would only be a brief respite and urged residents to continue voicing their concerns.

Hundreds of residents in Districts 2 and 10 have already bombarded city officials with emails and phone calls, urging them to either drop the proposal or postpone the vote until December.