Villas of the Park Housing Project

Home of the NBA Champions, the Bay Area has taken a huge step in towards fixing the homelessness situation that is rapidly growing. On July 23rd, the city of San Jose officially started a permanent housing development for the homeless people who are at high risk. The project called the Villas of the Park, will set be household roughly 83 homeless families by end of October 2019. Just like the housing market in Oregon, the cost of owning a house went from $699,000 to $1.07 million within two years according to Zillow (Kendall). The whole project will cost $36.8 million with funds coming from nonprofit services and housing developer, Affirmed Housing. The Villas of the Park will have vegetable garden, medical and services such as mental health. It will also offer classes such as finance and yoga for any interested resident. Nonprofits will work with 83 homeless families in their area and create a personalized housing plan for them. 

I believe more cities can work together to make more projects like this especially in Portland Oregon to take care of the homeless people especially in the current heat wave going on. Not only providing a place to live, its also important for us to create a space where the homeless can learn and become more educated and not make the same mistakes by having classes offered such as the ones at Villas of the Park. As one former homeless single mother put it, “The only shameful thing about mental illness and homelessness is the stigma attached to it — the lack of understanding of the stories behind the faces…..Homelessness can happen to anyone at any time. Even you” (Kendall). 

To learn more: https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/07/23/downtown-san-jose-welcomes-neighborhoods-first-homeless-housing-project/