San Jose has embraced tiny homes as a solution to homelessness. Since 2020, the city has developed six sites with around 500 beds and will add more than 700 at three other sites. One site for families with children on Evans Lane in South San Jose is outperforming the rest, with nearly eight in 10 residents finding permanent housing. Its residents have access to a countywide program that connects homeless families with federal housing vouchers, rental assistance and help finding low-income apartments. From its opening in 2021 through May, 243 of the 316 residents who left the site found housing — the most of any of the city’s tiny home facilities. “Evans Lane is just an exceptional success story that we need to closely study and replicate in other places,” says San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan.
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