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SAN JOSE — Downtown’s newest apartment building has it all — a sleek, modern facade, plenty of potted succulents, a bike-share program and a rooftop vegetable garden. But what sets it apart from the rest of the trendy developments flooding the city is this — all of its residents used to be homeless.
Villas on the Park officially opened its doors to much fanfare Friday, providing permanent housing to more than 90 people who previously had been sleeping in cars, on the streets or in other unstable situations.
“You are sitting or standing in front of the solution to ending homelessness in Santa Clara County,” said Joel John Roberts, CEO of homeless services nonprofit PATH, which operates the building. “It’s not a shelter. It’s not a sanctioned encampment. It’s a home.”
Villas on the Park provides what’s known as “permanent supportive housing,” which includes services for residents such as medical and mental health care, case management, job training and resume building, skills workshops and social activities.
It’s one of three such buildings for the homeless that have opened in San Jose in the past seven months — a small boom that nevertheless marks a big shift in strategy for a city that before last year, didn’t have any developments like it.
In South San Jose this week, homeless residents are moving off the streets and into a 160-unit development called Renascent Place on Senter Road. In August, Second Street Studios opened 134 apartments for the homeless. And PATH plans to build 90 more units of permanent supportive housing for homeless seniors on land the company bought at North 4th Street and East Younger Avenue.
“It’s a really exciting time,” said Ray Bramson, chief impact officer of Destination: Home. “These are things folks have been working on for years in the community, and its great to see all the doors opening.”
Villas on the Park is the first home 42-year-old Ericka Avila has had in years. Avila, who had been sleeping in her car, moved into a studio apartment in November. The first thing she did after settling in was take a warm bath.
On the street, Avila got the chance to shower in a portable shower trailer about twice a week — not nearly often enough to feel clean, she said.
“Now I can take a shower as many times as I want to,” said Avila, who can’t work and is on government assistance. “When you’re in a car, it’s kind of hard.”
While more units reserved for the homeless are scattered throughout other mixed-income apartment buildings in the city, Villas on the Park, Renascent Place and Second Street Studios are the first three 100% permanent supportive housing developments to come to San Jose.
All were an uphill battle: No one had ever heard of permanent supportive housing before, and community members assumed the projects would be a blight on their neighborhood. Renascent Place, for example, took 10 years to come to fruition. The site was first intended to be regular subsidized affordable housing, but when the state dissolved its redevelopment agencies in 2012, funding for the project dried up. Santa Clara County picked the project up again in 2015, pivoting its focus to housing the homeless.
But then, the project was met with a tidal wave of backlash. After the city planning commission green-lighted the plan, a group of neighbors appealed. Councilman Tam Nguyen withdrew his support under pressure from his constituents. But the City Council ultimately overrode the appeal, and the project went ahead. Now, people are moving in and staff expect it to be fully occupied within three to four weeks.
The Villas on the Park team started meeting with the community in 2015, hoping to convince neighbors the project would be a good thing. In the beginning, hundreds of people were opposed. But by the time the plan went before the City Council, not a single person objected.
Bramson hopes that once neighbors see attractive, finished projects like Villas, they will let go of old stereotypes.
At Villas on the Park, residents who work or receive government benefits pay 30% of their income in rent. If someone has no income, PATH works with him or her to get a job or sign up for benefits.
The project was partially funded by Measure A, the county’s $950 million affordable housing bond, which has funded 21 projects since it passed in 2016. Other funders include the city of San Jose, Housing Trust Silicon Valley, the Santa Clara County Housing Authority and Bank of America.
Walter Lax, 41, was living in his car on Story Road before moving into Villas. Before that, he bounced between friends and family members’ places.
“It was rough,” Lax said. “But now I’ve got a smile on my face most every day.”
Since moving into housing, Lax has been able to get a Social Security card and pay his parking tickets. After spending years on the streets, Lax said he was guarded when he first moved in. But he’s since come out of his shell and made friends within the building, he said, “like a puppy in a good home.”
