San Jose Spotlight reports the nearly five million dollar contract with the city comes as the water agency prepares to build out mandated flood protection measures along a nine-mile stretch of the creek following the devastating 2017 floods.
Between 120 to 200 homeless people living along the waterway will have to move before construction starts on June 5 for safety reasons, city officials said.
The contract, approved unanimously by the San Jose City Council on Tuesday, will fund clearing people out, cleaning up blight and supportive services to help unhoused residents move into housing.
San Jose officials said they've struck a deal with Valley Water because the city doesn't have the money, but has the know-how -- and the water agency doesn't have the manpower, but has the dollars.
San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan said: "If we do this right, we have an opportunity to reduce immediate environmental impacts, prepare ourselves to reduce flood risk in the future, make sure we're not blocking the important work of the Anderson Dam (retrofit project) and get people housed.”
Valley Water's flood protection project comes after a February 2017 storm breached the Anderson Dam and flooded neighborhoods near Coyote Creek.
It caused an estimated $100 million in damages and displaced roughly 14,000 residents. Valley Water dispersed more than eight million dollars to flood victims following a four-year lawsuit. Valley Water committed to building flood walls and other improvements to prevent water from topping over again.
