Neighborhoods stretching outside of immediate downtown San Jose will see cleaner streets and more job opportunities for homeless people in that area.
Downtown Streets Team, a nonprofit that beautifies the city and offers a stepping stone for unhoused residents to reenter the workforce, is expanding its services into Luna Park, Alum Rock, Calle Willow and East Village business districts. The workers in the program will be sprucing up the streets, while reaching out to people who are homeless to connect them with services and jobs.
“This is just common sense,” Mayor Matt Mahan said. “Meeting our homeless neighbors’ basic needs while they help clean up the city and turn their lives around is the most simple yet transformative thing we can do for them and our entire city.”
Mercy Wong doesn’t know where she’d be without the Downtown Streets Team. In 2006, when Wong became homeless, she saw people wearing bright shirts with the Downtown Streets Team logo cleaning the streets. She stopped to talk to them and immediately wanted to join the program. Through it, she was able to get employment and stable housing. When her income fell short, she was offered stipends to help pay rent.