San Jose will move homeless out of Columbus Park after $24M investment into park
Columbus Park in San Jose is about 10 acres total and is basically unusable. The entire area is filled with RVs and vehicles of unhoused residents who say they're just trying to find a place to live.
"Right here. This is where I sleep at, right here," Kathy Davis said as she points to an old minivan.
She has lived in the area for the past six years, much like Cat Daugherty. They both moved to the park when they were forced to leave the airport property, which is just a block away.
"You know, as long as we aren't bothering anybody or causing any property damage or anything like that, that as an American, we could be allowed to do that, but I also understand the businesses and there's things that go with that, and we can't just do whatever we want wherever we want," said Daugherty.
The city of San Jose already passed a temporary ban on RV parking in certain parts of the city, so residents said the park was one of the only places they could go where they weren't being harassed. San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan said this isn't the solution.
"We have a responsibility to make sure our parkland is accessible to everyone," said Mahan.
On Tuesday, the San Jose city council voted unanimously to invest about $24 million into Columbus Park to add pickleball and horseshoe courts, plus adult and kids soccer fields. Before the city starts construction, all the unhoused residents currently at the park would be forced out.
"To basically abandon a space, and allow it to become an unmanaged, unsanctioned encampment in perpetuity right on land that was once a baseball diamond or a basketball court for kids in a low-income neighborhood, is unfair. It's not right, and government has to do better," said Mahan.
Residents like Daugherty said picking up and moving isn't that easy.
"If you haven't lived this life, you don't know. You know what I'm saying? You're looking at it from a weird perspective," she said.
Construction isn't schedule to begin until the first quarter of 2026. San Jose is already making major investments in other safe parking sites, like Berryessa, and is opening tiny home villages for unhoused residents.
Council members wanted to make sure the current Columbus Park residents would have help finding somewhere else to go.
