The City of San José began construction on its first safe sleeping site near Watson Park in the City’s northside neighborhood. Known as the Taylor Street Navigation Site, it is the newest addition to the City’s comprehensive strategy to address unsheltered homelessness.

The City will use this navigation site to relocate unhoused individuals away from waterways, neighborhoods, and encampments. This will be where unhoused individuals stay briefly before moving to appropriate shelter or housing opportunities.

Construction crews are preparing the site for the first participants, who are expected to move onto the site this summer. Up to 56 individuals will stay at the navigation site on any given night, and they will have access to case managers who will assist in getting them connected to additional services and an appropriate sheltering option- based on their need.

The site will include restrooms, hygiene stations, parking for 29 vehicles, scheduled garbage collection. The site will have fencing to provide safety for participants and there will be on-site security. Participants will stay in individual tents and receive three meals a day. The goal is for unhoused residents to move out of the site within 30 days, though some individuals may stay longer before finding a shelter or housing opportunity.

First access at the site will be offered to unhoused individuals living in close proximity to Watson Park and along the city's waterways. Cleaning up the waterways is a high priority with the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board pressuring the City to clean up pollution and comply with the Clean Water Act. The city is establishing a No Encampment Zone in the area surrounding the navigation site, and the Housing Department’s outreach teams have begun the process of interacting with encamped individuals for prioritization when the site opens.