Last year, a renovated San Jose hotel on The Alameda reopened with much fanfare to house homeless residents. But problems have cropped up from the start, according to people who live there.
The city tapped nonprofit HomeFirst to provide supportive services and supervision of residents at the Arena Hotel , which was repurposed as a low-barrier shelter that doesn’t require sobriety. The building reopened last September, and since then residents have been dealing with a number of issues that include a broken elevator, lack of staffing and food poisoning.
The inoperable elevator has made life more difficult for people like Tyric Perkins, who uses a walker and lives on the top floor, but he refuses to stay cooped in his room.
Perkins’ life hasn’t been the same since he got into a bike accident a few years ago. His bent legs shake as he hobbles over his walker and slowly makes his way across the hall. Sometimes, he tries taking the elevator down, risking the possibility of getting stuck. Other times, his fiance helps him up and down the stairs. His legs are getting worse, and recently he’s been in so much pain there are times he can’t get out of bed.