According to California housing authorities, the city of San Jose must immediately stop plans to increase rent at SureStay hotels, which house some of the most vulnerable residents in need of shelter.

Instead of a flat rate of $ 627 per month starting October 1 in a room near Mineta San Jose International Airport, the city’s housing department staff will recalculate and charge a rent that does not exceed 30% of income of each tenant. is necessary.

“What ?!” Tenant Cheryl Fleming, along with some of her SureStay neighbors on North First Street on Wednesday night, made the news “wow” between the first pump and the tears. I heard and screamed. “We won the war, we won the battle. When we went [protest at] I won on the 12th floor of Town Hall on Friday. We have been through a lot. “

As they fought for a more reasonable rate to allow less than 10 residents to stay, 50 other residents have already been evicted because they could not afford a flat rate. Many have repeated the story of the hotel owner, knocking on residents’ doors with hidden threats and intimidation. It sparked uncertainty, anxiety, anger and sadness as they waited for the city to listen to their plea.

For many residents with disabilities, seniors, or both, the original bill of $ 627 claimed almost 66% of the average Social Security payment. This number is two to four times the amount poor adults receive. General support Receive from Santa Clara County.

Residents say it was nearly impossible to budget for food, bills and other expenses for less than $ 300 a month after issuing a check to the owner, San Jose.

“Oh no, I don’t have to sell trucks now! A new tenant was recently accepted into the program, undergoing daily dialysis, and expected to spend 69% of his monthly income of $ 900 on rent from SureStay. Declared.

As a result, the California Department of Housing and Community Development slammed San Jose on its wrist for a now-dead housing program. The negative attention is new to the city, as HCD typically appears in the headlines about cities such as Cupertino and Palo Alto rushing to build new housing projects and bemoaning their obligations as a loss of local control. Thing.

The latest information on SureStay came hours after HCD met with the San Jose housing sector on Wednesday, according to an email from the office of state legislator Alex Lee, who met the residents during a visit to motel Saturday. paddy field.

Lee agrees with HCD’s position on the building as part of Project Room Key, an experimental program by Governor Gavin Newsom that has protected more than 42,000 vulnerable Californians not staying in hotel rooms across the State. Emphasize unwanted city ideas.

Instead, Lee says he has met opposition to the goal of accommodating people by migrating from hotels for very low-income disabled seniors to “permanently affordable housing.”

“Well, from my perspective, the city was acting too wild,” Lee told San Jose Inside. “There are parameters in the financing of room keys that do not allow this, so we should not have placed restrictions on tenants and forced them to leave.”

However, changing rents can be exciting. It is too late for some of the 20 community members who have lived there for a year to break the Covid and bond. One resident was moved to another motel on the other side of downtown San Jose, and another resident took the dog to Pond.

Lawyer Sean Cartwright is not happy with the time it has taken state agencies to step in and remedy the situation. She says this was exacerbated by communication failures and the contempt of city officials.

“The Housing Department has sincerely apologized to all current SureStay residents at risk for all the stress and unnecessary trauma they have caused,” Cartwright said.

But now, no household should be evicted from the site, HCD said, adding that Roomkey will continue to serve any households that may need relocation or relocation services.

“Accommodating people and ending chronic homelessness is a goal set by the state government and San José,” continued Lee. “That’s why we create and fund programs like Roomkey and fund them. But this funding is not just a blank check to do whatever the local government wants to do.

The HCD is on the right track when it comes to monitoring housing missteps in the jurisdiction. This may or may not be related to the ministry’s new “Housing Responsibility Unit”, recently announced by Governor Gavin Newsom.

Fans learned the news Wednesday night after calling foul against the extreme push over the months.

The reason for the change became clear last week: The city attempted to create a whole new category of housing. SureStay planned to move from “permanent supportive housing” to “permanently affordable housing”. We charge 30% of average area income instead of the standard 30% of income for renters such as Second Street Studios and Villas on the Park.

From lines that give useless advice on “just getting a job”, to ignorant requests for those who can’t afford to “leave” the Bay Area, these lines are what most people living in SureStay have. their housing situation. Doesn’t factor in how you trust the costs associated with other medical issues such as family deaths, disabilities, and malpractice injuries. Their disability and age also hamper their ability to keep their jobs.

City officials say a whole new concept of housing has attempted to “close the housing gap” for non-residential people who might otherwise not have access to housing options.

But Raymond J. Ramsey, co-founder and president of the Second Street Tenants Association, said money for food and other basic necessities, even for those without housing and who could ” pay ”these high rents. Affirms that there are often few left. He says the fear of returning to the streets can push residents beyond their means, possibly setting himself up for failure.

Lee says he’s at the table to have homeless advocates like Ramsey and Sean Cartwright on the scene when the government makes and implements decisions about the homeless. Direct experience and the perception of not being contained is often the reason that errors like the one in San José are first detected.

“They know what’s going on and how to best deal with these issues, and often they are sadly ignored,” says Lee.[SureStay] It’s a great place where people build communities, and if we can add more success stories like this, we really question the history, the stigma of being homeless.

“I really hope that in the next few days and weeks, San José will move things forward, detain people and bring back those who should have been detained all this time.”