The San Jose City Council agreed this week to move 500 homeless people living along the city’s waterways to new sites closer to land following pressure from the state’s water control agency. 

The San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board has come down hard on cities across the region, forcing them to move encampments away from sensitive waterways or pay thousands of dollars per day in fines. The board has given San Jose until June 2025 to make the move. 

The city estimates there are about 1,000 homeless people living in areas the water board has identified for cleanup. 

After three previous rejections, the water board approved the city’s plan to cut the amount of trash, human waste, and pollution flowing into its 140 miles of creeks and rivers. 

Council members voted Tuesday to evaluate eight properties across San Jose as “safe sleeping sites” or “basic needs sites” that will host around 100 to 150 people each. The managed camps will provide individual tents, food, toilets, showers, laundry, and case management services. It will also have limited security measures in place, Mercury News reported. 

“This is not an easy task,” San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan said. 

Setting up the managed camps could cost San Jose between $18,000 and $40,000 per tent, according to preliminary estimates. For 500 tent spaces, that comes to around $9 million to $20 million. Operational costs could run between $22,000 and $33,000 per person annually.

In addition to setting up sanctioned encampments, officials in San Jose are working to erect hundreds more tiny homes and establish safe overnight parking spots so that people will have a place to go. 

Not everyone is pumped about the move away from the city’s waterways. 

Mariena Acosta moved to an encampment by the Guadalupe River after leaving another camp in Columbus Park, where local health officials identified a highly contagious bacterial infection outbreak. She said rats had started to infest the riverside tent camp and that people there were getting sick from bathing in the water. 

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She is not happy she is being moved from one location to another and would rather transition into permanent housing.

“Wow, another tent to move to,” she said sarcastically. “You’ve gotten so many people off the street, but you can’t get us off the street?”