For years, homeless veterans housed at an emergency facility in San Jose have lived with bed bugs, black mildew, fire hazards and a lack of warm water — and they’re relying on outdated evacuation plans, disconnected fire sprinklers and unsafe electrical systems.
These are the conditions described in a Santa Clara County inspection report for the property at 10 Kirk Ave. in San Jose. This comes less than two months after the county acquired the eight, single-story buildings on 4.26 acres for $14.5 million last November from one of San Jose’s largest developers, Swenson Builders.
It’s unclear from the inspection report when the property fell into disrepair. But homeless veterans have sought refuge at this facility for more than a decade. Since 2009, Swenson had been leasing the site month-to-month to the nonprofit Homeless Veterans Emergency Housing Facility.
Hector Guerra, the facility’s lead case manager, said the rent comes primarily in grants from the Veterans Administration, and it’s not cheap.