Complaint alleges San Jose employees, contractor improperly disposed of homeless residents’ belongings

Amid the growing crackdown on encampments throughout the city San Jose now faces a rash of complaints about loss of property from homeless residents who have accused the city of lacking due process and even deliberately destroying thousands of dollars worth of items at the same time that they assured the owners that their belongings were safe Related Articles Beating victim detected last month in Oakland succumbs to injuries After pandemic gloom are Bay Area residents feeling more optimistic about the region More than half of Santa Clara County s unhoused population is homeless for the first time Santa Clara County signs off on homelessness pact with San Jose but disagreements on strategy persist Prop funding fight pits Newsom against San Jose Mayor Mahan In one of the four property loss complaints filed just last week Melvin Cuc a former resident of the Columbus Park encampment stated that the city destroyed all of his belongings while he was hospitalized for days in August despite receiving a notice for his items that prevented their removal until Sept Cuc s complaint also alleged that he saw employees from the city and one of its contractors remove similar notices from the belongings of other residents while no one was around before disposing of them in a trash compactor Among the items Cuc lost were his clothes antibiotics food bicycle and tent all of which he mentioned were vital to his survival on the streets The city s actions have left me with nothing Cuc wrote in his complaint They erased my home my belongings and the sparse support that allowed me to survive day-to-day The harm is lasting in the physical loss of my property and in the profound emotional impact of being treated as though my life and my belongings had no value Amanda Rodriguez a spokesperson for the Parks Recreation and Neighborhood Services Department reported the city followed a strict documented process for managing placards during the Columbus Park abatement Any individual with a legitimate placard was allowed to remain in the park until their shelter and supportive services were ready Rodriguez noted During the abatement several RVs and tents displayed unauthorized or duplicated placards that were not distributed by city staff or contractors In those cases placards were removed and the abatement proceeded in accordance with city approach Encampment management has been a legal thorn in the sides of a large number of Bay Area municipalities in latest years with certain of the region s largest cities doling out considerable sums and implementing new policies as a conclusion of litigation In Oakland s settlement of a occurrence tied to the improper eviction of an encampment included the city agreeing to provide increased notice of sweeps and enact more stringent rules for managing residents belongings Last month San Francisco approved a multi-million-dollar settlement in response to a lawsuit filed in by the Coalition on Homelessness that alleged the city violated its own policies and had destroyed unhoused residents property during encampment clearings including tents medication and ID documents The agreement requires San Francisco to provide opportunities for unhoused residents to reclaim their property to submit up-to-date reports on seizures and to train its employees on handling personal property Caltrans has also paid out millions of dollars in proposes for illegally removing and destroying homeless residents property in the past several years Rodriguez stated that the city provides at least hours of written notice before an abatement although the city has extended this period in cases involving larger operations San Jose has existing rules for items taken during abatements including a -day storage program Rodriguez commented that notices include clear instructions in multiple languages for retrieving property including an email address and phone number to schedule a pickup or delivery of the items However the Bay Area News Group revealed earlier this year that the city stored relatively meager items considering that it conducted hundreds of sweeps and that unhoused residents rarely retrieved their belongings In the complaints filed against the city residents raised concerns that the city had never properly notified them or allowed them to retrieve their property despite them having gone through the proper channels Patrick Brodehl a journeyman contractor who lived near Emory Street and Chestnut Street announced the city s flyers only provided neighborhood guidelines and never any dates or times for clearings when his tools and food were seized Brodehl added that the city only gave him minutes to grab what he could and never provided any documentation on how to retrieve his other belongings The continued cycle of losing belongings has stifled his progress and forced him to start anew he explained The constant forced movement coupled with being stated by police to relocate from one area Taylor and Coleman only to have my belongings seized at another has made it impossible for me to plan or rebuild stability Brodehl explained As a contractor trying to continue working and contributing these repeated disruptions leave me unable to maintain the basic foundation I need for my livelihood and dignity The other complaints tell similar stories lamenting the lack of due process while accusing the city of dehumanizing practices Ramon Aguilar stated that after the seizure of his truck and tools the city failed to provide any information on how to retrieve them Once his car was sold city staff allegedly narrated him he could not file a claim Joseph Lopez who explained he has survived by learning to repair and rebuild scooters lost his property including his work tools and a necklace and jewelry box for his daughter the day after relocating near Bayshore Freeway and Channing Avenue in mid-June In one sweep everything I had managed to hold onto through years of hardship tools memories my work my hope was gone Lopez announced I felt fear as I watched strangers dismantle the little stability I had created I felt humiliation and despair knowing I could not protect the things that mattered majority of to me Above all I felt stripped of dignity These belongings were more than property they were the pieces of a life I was desperately trying to rebuild