San Jose clears out former 'Jungle' homeless encampment

'The Jungle' encampment in San Jose cleared

City officials designated the area a "no encampment zone," citing requirements to reduce debris and pollutants from entering the nearby waterway.

SAN JOSE, Calif. - San Jose city officials on Wednesday cleared a large homeless encampment on land near Coyote Creek and the Happy Hollow Zoo, an area once notorious as "The Jungle."

Clearing ‘The Jungle’ 

The backstory:

The site, which was considered one of the largest encampments in the city a decade ago, was cleared in 2014. 

However, people have continued to live there on and off for years. As of Wednesday, an estimated 40 to 100 people remained at the site.

City officials designated the area a "no encampment zone," citing requirements to reduce debris and pollutants from entering the nearby waterway.

San Jose clearing out city's largest encampment

San Jose city officials are beginning to clear a homeless encampment near Coyote Creek to reduce pollutants and debris entering the waterway.

What they're saying:

Residents of the encampment expressed uncertainty about their future. 

Art Enriquez, who moved to the site two months ago, said he has been on a waiting list for housing for at least a year with no success.

"We need more warming centers, more shelters," Enriquez said. "What’s the way for us? There’s still about 40 of us out here."

However, Jason Prieto seemed pleased with his new tiny home.

"Mine and our collective opinions have actually changed for the better," said. "I've heard of a few locations that have better amenities, but it's definitely better than out here."

City officials said they have been working on outreach for months, compiling a list of people living at the encampment.

"That by-name list identified 109 individuals who were in the area," said Eric Solivan, San Jose's Housing Director. "Each one of them have accepted at the time, as of yesterday, a shelter bed placement, so we've identified a bed for all of them."

About 80 will move to an interim tiny home site at the Cerone VTA yard. Others will move into motels. It's a process that will take at least a month, cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, and clear about 500-million pounds of trash from the sensitive area around Coyote Creek.

"We're establishing a ‘no encampment zone.’ We didn't do that before. We just sort of cleared everybody out and hoped they'd stay away," said Jon Cicirelli, Director of Parks, Parks, Recreation, and Neighborhood Services. "Obviously, that didn't work. So, this time that will be an actively patrolled area."

City officials stated that within the next 30 to 60 days, they intend to ensure no one is living along the waters of Coyote Creek again.