‘Just got to suck it up’: Residents say San Jose hotel for homeless fails to meet their needs

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.