A SAN JOSE SAFE PARKING program on VTA property is in violation for operating without proper approvals.
The city served VTA a notice after a Dec. 9 inspection found vehicles parked at the Santa Teresa station aren’t storing trash properly and that the site is operating without permits or approvals, among other violations. The site is run by nonprofit Amigos de Guadalupe, which provides about a dozen people a place to sleep in their vehicles without fear of being towed. It sits across from the city-owned, gated safe parking site run by LifeMoves, also on VTA property.
The transit agency must remedy the various violations by Jan. 31 or potentially face fines of thousands of dollars a day, according to city officials.
“The area in violation — (at) the East end of the lot — was not approved as a safe parking site,” Marika Krause, spokesperson for the Planning, Building and Code Enforcement Department, told San José Spotlight. “We are working with VTA and concerned neighbors to address the issue.”
VTA first entered into an agreement with Amigos de Guadalupe to run a safe parking site in May 2024. The contract stated only 11 vehicles were allowed to be on the east end of the parking lot and the spots weren’t transferable to other participants. Once those people exited the program, the temporary safe parking program was planned to terminate.
The transit agency renewed the contract a year later, reducing the number of allowed vehicles to the seven remaining participants.
In August, VTA amended its contract with Amigos to expand the Santa Teresa safe parking site back to 11 participants and up to 20 parking spaces, including one for a portable toilet. It brought five RVs from the Almaden station to the Santa Teresa location. There were a total of 16 vehicles at the site in mid-December.
A VTA spokesperson said since it is the agency’s property, the safe parking program doesn’t require City Council approval. But the violation notice states that “no site shall be enlarged or modified for Incidental Safe Parking use without an approved Development Permit.”
Spokespeople for VTA and Amigos de Guadalupe said they are working with the city to be in compliance by the end of January. Neither group has confirmed whether that includes moving vehicles out of the site.
“VTA will continue to work with the county of Santa Clara and the city of San Jose on a more permanent solution for the RV residents parked temporarily on VTA property,” a VTA spokesperson told San José Spotlight. “The agency will also work with the city on possible misunderstandings regarding the authorized use of the property.”
Jeremy Barousse, director of policy and organizing for Amigos de Guadalupe, said the nonprofit stepped up at a time of crisis to help the most vulnerable in the community.
“Our team will continue to work with our guests to bring the current situation into compliance by the deadline, and create a welcoming place where they can live with dignity and get the resources they need,” Barousse said in statement.
When the city decommissioned its largest homeless camp at Columbus Park this summer, where roughly 370 people and 120 lived-in vehicles congregated, some were left with nowhere to go. Some people who didn’t want to give up their RVs tried to stay at the VTA Almaden station, where they parked illegally.
District 10 Councilmember George Casey, who represents South San Jose, said neighbors feel the transit agency made the decision without consulting the community.
“Our concern and our frustration is being left out of the deliberation process, being forced to just accept whatever the VTA decides to do,” Casey told San José Spotlight. “It’s unfair to the folks that live in the community.”
Issa Ajlouny, South San Jose resident and president of SAFER San Jose, said he’s frustrated with the area continually having to bear the brunt of housing homeless residents. District 10 and 2 have six temporary housing sites, which together have more than 750 beds. That accounts for more than one-third of all temporary housing beds and spaces in the city.
“We were promised equal distribution when this was all started,”Ajlouny told San José Spotlight. “We’ve been good neighbors to (the homeless residents), supplying them with beds. We need them to be good neighbors to us, and they are failing.”
Meanwhile, the residents parked in the VTA Santa Teresa station said they have yet to hear anything from Amigos de Guadalupe about leaving.
Angel, a teenager living with his grandparents at the site who declined to give his last name, said it would be hard to move again.
Another safe parking resident who requested anonymity for safety reasons said they aren’t bothering anyone and keep the area clean. He wouldn’t know where he would go if they were kicked out.
“There should be more safe parking sites, but there’s not,” he told San José Spotlight through a translator.
Contact Joyce Chu at joyce@sanjosespotlight.com or @joyce_speaks on X.
Editor’s note: Jeremy Barousse is related to San José Spotlight co-founder Josh Barousse.
This story originally appeared in San José Spotlight.