San Jose changes how it will handle homeless residents’ stored personal belongings

As San Jose city workers prepared to clear a large encampment along Willow Street and the Guadalupe River, they encountered a minefield of debris and assorted items — gas and oil canisters, a couch, a bureau, a small grill, refrigerators, boxed-up bicycle parts, empty bins, and suitcases — strewn about the site.

​While some encampments are better kept than others, the disorganized chaos at this particular location represented what city workers typically encounter and the conundrum they face when trying to figure out how to handle and store personal belongings, Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services Director Jon Cicirelli said.

San Jose has faced a rash of complaints from homeless residents and advocates who have accused the city of discarding their items or making it difficult for them to pick up, evidenced by the less than 10% retrieval rate.

​Now, San Jose has approved changes to property-handling procedures it hopes will keep public spaces clear while upholding residents’ rights, including providing more clarity on how their belongings will be handled.

​“The current processes we follow are legal and in many cases, go far above and beyond what the law requires,” Mayor Matt Mahan said Tuesday. “We’ve gotten feedback from people who have questions or are confused and want to see us do even better. That’s the spirit of this update: is staff really reflecting how can we ensure it’s as accessible as it can be in different languages (or) give people as much time and do our very best to store things and get them back to folks if they’re not there at the time of abatement?”

​The changes approved on Tuesday include guidelines for training, documenting items placed into storage and for treating bulkier personal belongings, and a presumption that items should be considered personal property when there is a lack of clarity. San Jose also reduced the holding period for personal belongings from 90 days to a 30-day minimum, due to space constraints and in anticipation that more items will be placed into storage due to the changes

City leaders had asked the city to revisit its storage and reasonable accommodation procedures in October when the Auditor’s Office presented a review of homelessness activities.

​At that time, a memo from Mahan, Vice Mayor Pam Foley and Councilmembers Rosemary Kamei, Pamela Campos and Anthony Tordillos suggested the city explore clarifications of its processes, including eligibility criteria — citing data from the housing department from May to September that showed 92% denial rate for reasonable accommodations.

​The memo also highlighted that homeless residents had retrieved only 6% of stored belongings, leading them to believe that residents may not know how to retrieve their items or face barriers to doing so.

​The data closely matched the findings of a Bay Area News Group analysis last spring. The analysis found that the city stored few items after sweeps and when it did, residents rarely retrieved them.

Failure to properly manage belongings found at encampments has presented legal challenges throughout the Bay Area over the past few years.

In 2022, Oakland settled a case tied to the improper eviction of an encampment that led to an agreement to provide increased noticed of sweeps and stricter rules for managing personal property.

Last year, San Francisco approved a multimillion-dollar settlement after accusations it violated its own policies and had destroyed unhoused residents’ belongings, including tents, medication and identification documents, during abatements.

Several homeless residents have also filed complaints against San Jose, accusing the city of lacking due process and even deliberately destroying thousands of dollars’ worth of items even while assuring the owners that their belongings were safe.

​One particular complaint alleged that the city and its contractors destroyed one man’s belongings during the abatement of Columbus Park in August, while he was hospitalized for 18 days and despite receiving a notice that prevented the removal of his items.

With San Jose’s dubious track record with some residents trying to retrieve their belongings, there are deep concerns about the city’s announcement that it will clear one of its largest remaining encampments – the notorious stretch known as “The Jungle” – next month.

​“It’s good that you’re trying to finally make some kind of accommodations with this horrible situation of people’s stuff supposedly being saved for them to have later,” Survivors of the Streets member John Betts said. “But generally, all you ever hear is that hardly anybody ever got any of their stuff back.”

​Cicirelli acknowledged that BeautifySJ did not previously have resources budgeted to manage personal property storage, but will assign staff as part of the changes implemented on Tuesday, which include a commitment for the city to respond within 72 hours to resident inquiries.

​He also noted the city’s willingness to meet homeless residents where they are and deliver their items directly to them.

​“We’re trying to make it as convenient as we can, understanding that we’re kind of in a disorganized and chaotic system that we’re trying to bring organization to,” Cicirelli said.

​However, advocates noted differences between what appears on paper and what actually occurs. They also questioned the perceived lack of community engagement and stakeholder input, including those with lived experience, before crafting the latest policy changes.

​“The current system isn’t working, but the least we can do is establish minimal procedures to protect constitutional rights, civil rights and human rights of the poorest people in San Jose,” advocate Sandy Perry said, noting their support for a civilian review board to ensure that residents are receiving reasonable accommodations and that standard procedures are followed. “When this property operating procedure was first established … a bunch of advocates and a bunch of people actually from encampments were called in to give input and to help develop that process. That doesn’t seem to be happening anymore.”