PHOTO/JOAN SIMON
SAN JOSE, CA. — Silicon Valley now boasts the richest corporations in the world and the largest homeless encampment in the continental United States. A temporary expansion of local hi-tech companies has pushed rents here into the stratosphere and made even more local residents homeless.
“It is a shame,” said Anthony King, who just recently obtained housing himself after living on the streets. “This is supposed to be the center of world technological innovation, but both our business and political leaders have failed. Look at Adobe: it is one of the largest technology companies in San Jose, and owns three high rise buildings downtown. The homeless sleep under bridges only a few feet from their door. But what do they do about it? Instead of using their clout to make sure people are housed, they just hire extra security guards to keep the homeless away from their employees.”
Several hundred people now live in tents in an encampment called “The Jungle” along Coyote Creek near Story Road. Volunteers from churches, community groups, and ministries have brought food and clothing, but conditions are primitive. People repeatedly fought for the City to install water, toilets, and trash bins but the City has refused, claiming that to do so would “encourage people to live outside”—as if its housing policies were not such a dismal failure that people have no choice.
“Even the robber barons of the 1800s did more to help people than these companies do today,” said Anthony King. “They close their eyes and claim it is not their problem. It is like they all saw the ‘Wall Street’ movie and believe ‘Greed is good.’ There is a lot of talk about ‘ending homelessness,’ but not much action. We need to take away responsibility for housing the homeless from these non-profits and local governments. There is no accountability there. We need to give it back to big government where we can hold people accountable.”
Silicon Valley has all the signs of a broken system: the economy goes up, but the standard of living goes down. Corporate profits skyrocket, but so do poverty, homelessness, and human misery. Especially since the 2008 recession, corporations have found they increase profits faster when they use the very technology they produce to replace human workers with computers. A recent newspaper survey reported that Silicon Valley companies now have a cash accumulation of $500 billion. Yet these same corporations have resisted local commercial impact fees to pay for housing, or increased federal income taxes that could easily end homelessness in America forever. They refuse to pay taxes to serve people they cannot and will not employ anymore.
Enough is enough. If we organize and educate ourselves, we the people have the power to wrestle our government away from predatory corporations. We can create a new economy, dedicated to taking care of the livelihood and happiness of the people, instead of the private profit of the few.
Sandy Perry is a longtime housing advocate from San Jose, CA.
