San Jose councilmember caught off-guard by county’s jail diversion site plan

Blindsided by Santa Clara County’s plan to buy South San Jose interim housing sites for a jail diversion program, City Councilmember Arjun Batra has joined his constituents in opposing what he called 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 from a community meeting two weeks ago despite it targeting a site that borders District 10, which he represents, since the spring.

“I am completely opposed to having this site in South San Jose,” Batra said. “Placing a facility that brings individuals from the jail diversion program into our community and near children, schools and families is completely unacceptable.”

The San Jose City Council was originally scheduled to consider the $8 million sale of the sites at 6066 Monterey Road and 1072-1082 Vermont St. on Tuesday before Batra and District 7 Councilmember Bien Doan asked the city manager’s office to table the discussion.

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

The program’s goal is to “improve residents’ wellness, aid their recovery, and help them transition to long-term housing,” while providing an alternative to incarceration.

While the sites were intended to have 24/7 security, the county noted that the state’s penal code mandates that participants in diversion programs must “not pose an unreasonable risk to public safety” as determined by the court.

San Jose contracted with Abode Services to operate the Vermont Street site while HomeFirst Services manages the 2.37-acre interim housing site on Monterey Road that accommodates 78 people. By transferring the Monterey Road property to the county, San Jose estimates it would save at least $2.5 million per year that it currently spends on the site.

Along with the potential safety risks, Batra expressed his frustration with the broken promises surrounding how the interim housing site operates and how South San Jose has taken on more than what he believes is its fair share of homelessness solutions. Within a one-mile radius, South San Jose accounts for hundreds of interim shelter spaces.

“South San Jose will not be dumped on any longer,” he said.

During early budget sessions, Batra said he was led to believe that the county was looking to take over the Monterey Road site and continue operations as interim housing.

Instead, “an unacceptable breach of trust” took place, with Batra telling housing officials that they needed to be transparent about how the process played out.

George Casey and Joe Lopez, candidates for the District 10 and District 2 seats, respectively, also voiced their opposition by bemoaning the perceived secrecy behind the county’s plans.

“We need programs in place that let people start to turn their lives around  — in fact, I have seen it happen countless times during my law enforcement career,” Lopez said. “But the fact remains that residents of this community have been given no 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 the deferral from Tuesday’s agenda is only a brief respite and called on residents to continue to voice their concerns.

Hundreds of District 2 and District 10 residents have already bombarded city officials with emails and phone calls, asking them to either drop the proposal or delay a vote until December.