"where rats had so overrun the city's largest homeless encampment that residents gave them names, Tami Davis wasn't expecting to be relocated to a boutique hotel with crystal chandeliers, maid service and TVs in every room. It's almost too fancy, said Davis, 61, said of the Bristol Hotel, where a mobile laundry service comes by once a week, Goodwill Industries knocks on doors offering jobs for $18 an hour and a vet clinic updated shots for her little dog, Trixie."
"Davis is among 256 of the 370 Columbus Park residents who took up the city's offer in August to leave the encampment and move into one of five newly-leased motels, three modular home projects or a short-term, safe sleeping tent village. Where they all landed and how they are acclimating and how neighbors are reacting is a test of Mayor Matt Mahan's ambitious and controversial effort to tackle homelessness in San Jose."
Tami Davis lived in her car at Columbus Park for a year amid a rat-infested encampment before accepting relocation to the Bristol Hotel with chandeliers, maid service, TVs and hot showers. The hotel receives weekly mobile laundry, job outreach from Goodwill offering $18-an-hour positions, and a vet clinic updated Davis's dog. A total of 256 of 370 Columbus Park residents accepted city offers in August to move into five newly leased motels, three modular home projects, or a short-term safe-sleeping tent village. Mayor Matt Mahan redirected Measure E funds toward interim housing, drawing criticism from Housing First advocates, while the mayor says the approach is producing results.
Read at www.mercurynews.com
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