SAN JOSE (KCBS RADIO) – San Jose is hoping to push back the deadline to finish clearing a massive homeless encampment south of the city's airport, however, encampment residents are skeptical the extra time will help.
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Currently San Jose is facing a June 30 deadline to clear out the remaining 130-odd people still living at the encampment site close to Columbus Park. The city is now asking federal regulators to push the deadline back to September in hopes to buy time to find places for people to move.
However, residents at the site are questioning how much difference the extra three months will really make. "I guess it is more time in a way," homeless advocate Scott Largent said, raising an important question. "It's more time for what? They're going to be in the same situation on the other side of that curve over there."
The root problem is that there are simply not enough housing options in San Jose to go around.
In the meantime, life at the encampment is taking a toll on the people who call it home. "There’s a lot of anguish, exhaustion," one resident told KCSB Radio. "These people don't know what's what from here and there, they don't know if they're going to get moved. Everybody's just in this zone of uncertainty."
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