The Clearing of Columbus Park Encampments and What That Means For Student Safety

Notre Dame is located in downtown San Jose, a huge benefit for students because of all the academic resources and delicious snacks nearby. However, every once in a while, students find themselves in uncomfortable encounters when walking downtown.

San Jose has the third largest homeless population in California, and seventh in the entirety of the United States. The biggest encampment, Columbus Park, was home to 370 unhoused individuals. With nowhere else to go, unhoused citizens were forced to congregate here, creating an unsafe environment for locals. Members of the encampment have cut down trees to build their own houses, as well as to start fires; This was a huge safety hazard for everyone in the park, as well as nearby buildings and homes. However, this area, which had been used as an encampment for years, was cleared this summer by city authorities.

100,000 pounds of trash were removed from Columbus Park in just one week, and the families of the 11 children living there have been moved into hotels until further notice. Many other encampment members who were in this situation temporarily moved into hotels too. However, not all were able to take this opportunity because many of these individuals were unable to stop drug use— a requirement if they wished to have shelter. This has pushed those abusing drugs into downtown San Jose and has created an unstable environment even closer to our campus. 

Most unhoused individuals don't choose to live this way, and while this issue does impact student safety we need to look at the source, the government, the abuse of substances, and the rising cost of living. Under the current Trump Administration, programs for homelessness have been rapidly defunded, causing many shelters and programs to disband. In order to increase student safety after school, we have to go after the root causes.

PC: Unsplash

The only thing that criminalizing unhoused individuals is doing is taking up more space in prisons, causing less space for actual felons; this itself is a different issue. There also needs to be more shelters, because when those in need of a place to sleep have to stay on the street, the risk of being assaulted goes way up, becoming another reason an at-risk individual would turn to drugs. This isn’t just a matter of student safety after school—it’s a matter of how our government refuses to find a permanent solution.