The San José City Council met Tuesday afternoon to discuss housing initiatives within Santa Clara County, as well as fund allocations for local transportation services.
Erik Soliván, housing director for the City of San José, presented an overview of the city’s partnership with the Santa Clara County Housing Authority.
“Overall the Santa Clara County Housing Authority invests primarily on project-based vouchers into affordable housing developments within the city,” Soliván said.
The Housing Choice Voucher, or formerly known as Section 8, is federal rental assistance for families in need, according to a Santa Clara County Housing Authority webpage.
He said the Housing Authority operates 21 affordable housing communities within the city.
San José has a map of all affordable housing units in the city, according to a city webpage.
“We are committed to executing on the work we’ve already done around the (Sunrise) Pavilion Homekey Project, which adds to our overall shelter capacity within the city,” Soliván said.
Sunrise Pavillion is an affordable housing unit that opened in August 2025 that offers 43 pet-friendly housing units for people aging out of foster care to avoid houselessness, according to an Aug. 7, 2025 article published by the California Department of Housing and Community Development.
Soliván also said they are expanding investments with the Arena Hotel, an interim housing site to aid those experiencing houselessness.
“That builds on the work that’s already being done at the Pacific Motor Inn for the three-year commitment of just $5.1 million to bring the alternative revenue sources into our overall shelter system,” Soliván said.
The Arena Hotel switched ownership from HomeFirst to WeHOPE last year when the San José City Council unanimously passed $2.7 million for WeHOPE to operate the building from Oct. 1, 2025 through June 30, 2026, according to a Nov. 7, 2025 San José Spotlight article.
A public guest in attendance of the meeting, Brian Darby, gave his feedback to the council.
“I want to acknowledge the hard work for everybody on the vouchers and I just wish we had more,” Darby said. “I know that there’s going to be more of a challenge on that, as far as federal government, so making every dollar counts.”
Gerbenn Seraphin, a student at Stanford University and a former foster youth, said he wants the council to approve the plan.
“I think these approaches allow for faster, more effective housing placements and ensure that youth exiting foster care are not falling through the cracks,” Seraphin said.
All eight council members voted unanimously to pass the motion, which approves a $5.1 million investment into the Pacific Motor Inn by the Housing Authority over a three-year span, as well as $6.4 million for the Arena Hotel over the same period, according to a presentation shown during the meeting.
After the council voted, Sam Sargent, director of strategy and transformation for the Valley Transportation Authority (VTA), gave a presentation about VTA’s implementation of the sales tax measure Senate Bill (SB) 63.
“Under SB 63 regional measure funds may be used for public transit expenses and roadway repavement projects on roads served by fixed-route transit,” Sargent said.
SB 63, passed last year, adds a 0.5% to 1% sales tax to fund transit infrastructure in the Bay Area, according to a CalMatters webpage.
Before the board, VTA members identified three primary outcomes which are growing ridership, increasing productivity and enhancing the customer experience with added safety, security and cleanliness.
VTA proposes to receive roughly 84% of SB 63 revenue allocation for Santa Clara County, amounting to an estimated $264 million in funds toward the primary outcomes, according to a meeting presentation.
“If we are investing money, we want to drive at least one of these outcomes, if not more,” Sargent said.
John Ristow, director of the Department of Transportation in San José, said the feedback from the meeting would be passed along for consideration of the VTA Board of Directors.
District 5 Councilmember Peter Ortiz raised concerns about the plan’s effectiveness on his side of town.
“When we invest in transit in District 5, we’re not just improving a system, we’re directly impacting people’s ability to go to work, get to school and access important resources like grocery stores, community centers (and) childcare,” Ortiz said.
The city council unanimously voted without the mayor 8-0 to establish the primary outcomes as policy priorities for the VTA to follow when managing funds related to SB 63.
