Are Tiny Homes The Right Solution To San Jose’s Housing Crisis?

Lots of new affordable housing is planned in San José but will take five to 10 years to build. So San José is launching a project called Bridge Housing Communities. It will temporarily house people in cabins and help them find a permanent place to live. California Assembly Bill 2176 became law three years ago, and San José declared a “shelter crisis.” This allowed the city to suspend some building codes and build “emergency sleeping cabins” — essentially, tiny houses — as interim, or “bridge” housing. A year later, the City Council discussed the criteria for sites for this new type of temporary housing, and that’s when they got some feedback from the public. “Tiny house communal sites do not belong adjacent to established neighborhoods,” says one San José resident. The conversation before the City Council continued a few months later. While there were still some objections, there was also more support, such as these words from Sandra Solner. “I’m a homeowner, I pay taxes, and I’m asking you to vote ‘yes.’ We cannot go on with homeless people living on our streets like we’re a third-world country.”