SAN JOSE, Calif (KRON) — The San Jose City Council approved a $205 million spending plan Tuesday that focuses on affordable housing and homelessness prevention. The money will go toward Measure E, which was approved by San Jose voters in 2020 to address the housing and homelessness crises.
Measure E institutes a real estate transfer tax on property sales and transfers valued at more than $2 million. The City of San Jose expects it to provide funding for 1,200 affordable units.
“Voters understood the urgent need to build affordable housing when they approved Measure E; now, two years on, we’re in a much stronger position to house more families and move San Joséans back from the brink,” said San José Mayor Sam Liccardo. “As we work to deliver on the promise of Measure E, we will continue to leverage state and federal funding as we work towards our goal of building thousands of new units of housing.”
The $205 million spending plan will include $89 million to develop housing for for extremely-low income and low-income households. At least $20 million each will be allocated to four other causes
- Acquiring and converting market-rate units to affordable housing ($25M)
- Quick-build apartment construction and operations ($22M)
- Acquiring hotels and converting them to permanent housing ($21M)
- Homelessness prevention ($20M)
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In addition to shelter, quick-build apartments provide residents with help accessing public benefits, healthcare and permanent housing. The city said 473 people currently live in these communities and 212 have moved on to permanent or transitional housing.
