SAN JOSE: For the past nine months, Gary Nadeau, 61, has enjoyed the basic comforts of a bed, a hot shower and a stable address — all on Apple’s dime. That short-lived reprieve ended Monday, when the program that sheltered Nadeau and dozens of others came to an end.
Apple spent millions on motel stays for Nadeau and 55 other unhoused people who had been living in an encampment on the tech company’s property off Component Drive in San Jose. On Monday, he and the other remaining residents packed their trunks and worked feverishly to fix their broken-down cars or load up their RVs, approaching a 2 p.m. deadline to be out of the Casa Linda Motel on Monterey Road. While a handful of participants found housing during the nine-month program and some moved into temporary tiny homes, others planned to return to the street.
“I don’t know where I’m going to go. If I have to pitch a tent, I’ve got one right there,” Nadeau said, gesturing to the camping gear packed alongside the rest of his belongings in his friend’s car. “I don’t have a choice, unfortunately.”
The program funded by Apple was always intended to be temporary, and while caseworkers with local nonprofit HomeFirst worked with participants to help them find long-term homes, housing wasn’t guaranteed, HomeFirst CEO Andrea Urton said when the program launched. But the low number of success stories has disappointed residents and activists, and highlighted how hard it is to pull someone out of homelessness — even for one of the world’s most valuable companies. As of last week, eight participants had obtained permanent housing and more had been placed in temporary tiny homes. Ten had left due to arrests or other misconduct, and 25 people were still in the motel, awaiting placements.
Jayson Mejarito, Urton’s chief of staff, did not specify how many people were leaving the program Monday without housing. But he said some people were moving into tiny homes, while others were headed to safe parking sites. He said all had been offered a shelter bed at the Boccardo Reception Center in San Jose, the region’s largest homeless shelter. And Apple’s money will continue to pay for case workers who will help people try to find housing for another three months.
Apple did not respond to a request for comment Monday, but said last week in a statement: “As part of our $2.5 billion plan to help address the housing crisis in California, we’ve been working with partners across the state to support at-risk communities and provide new affordable units. We’ll continue looking for ways to support communities and affordable housing.”
Brenda Cruz, 70, said she, her boyfriend and her dog, Rozaleena, were moving to a safe parking site, where they’ll sleep in their two cars. It will be an adjustment after nine months in a motel.
“I can’t shower like I was showering here,” Cruz said. “I don’t have a nice mattress to stretch out on.”
Cruz, who has been homeless off and on for 10 years, has an income of about $1,800 a month between her Social Security benefits and her retirement plan from her career as a maintenance worker. That’s not enough for an apartment — even for the places her case worker gave her applications for during her motel stay, she said.
Cruz and her boyfriend make extra money for gas and food by recycling cans, bottles and scrap metal, which they collect in a small trailer towed behind his car. A tiny home isn’t an option because they can’t park the trailer there, she said.
Another resident, who didn’t want to give his name because of his immigration status, said he’s going to move back into his RV and find somewhere to park on the street. In the end, he won’t be any better off than he was nine months ago when he moved into the motel, he said.
Nadeau, who became homeless after his deteriorating health cost him his job as a chef, said he filed at least eight applications for housing while staying in the motel, but had no luck. He didn’t want to move into a tiny home, because he worried it would make him claustrophobic. Instead, he was planning to reach out to his friends and see if he could stay in someone’s RV or garage for a few days.
Going back to homelessness is “going to suck,” Nadeau said. But he doesn’t blame Apple — it was “huge” that the company donated so much money, he said. Nor does he blame his case worker, who he said tried her best to help him. And he has hope — he applied for disability and unemployment, and is on a waitlist for a housing voucher.
“We’ll figure something out,” he said. “It’s tough, it really is. But we’re survivors. We’re going to make it.”
Source: www.mercurynews.com