We're adding 150 beds for $13 million per year in ongoing costs, plus $13 million in upfront costs. Per homeless person, that's $87000 plus $7200 per month. It would be less expensive to rent a luxury penthouse apartment for each homeless person.

They actually said that this is just a small part of their program. The actual sentence reads: "The increased shelter space in the North County is part of a larger plan by county staff to substantially increase the number of year-round shelter beds available to homeless people throughout Santa Clara County."

The link below explains about building they bought to be converted to year-round shelters as opposed to the temporary shelters offered only during the cold weather months. It does seem a shame that Sunnyvale's solution will be one year only and next year they are looking again for a solution for the homeless problem.

Web Link

Money does not matter to the members of the County Board of Supervisors who routinely rubberstamp hugely expensive and wasteful programs and still face no opposition when re-election time comes around.

Glad to hear it. Will this area incorporate the 'encampment' at the corner of Latham and Showers? How will they be notified when they can drive their RV's onto this county lot?

No guarantee the encampment will leave Latham area when the shelter opens at end of November. Some people prefer to camp and not be restricted or want to qualify to the rules of shelters. Many don't like to leave their "stuff" unattended.

@resident of another community:

That doesn't make any sense to me. The people living in the encampment - at the corner of Latham and Showers - leave their 'stuff' unattended all day while they work or try to get on as a day laborer. Are you saying that our block should sacrifice our quality of life so citizens of Santa Clara County can get cheap labor?

This 'shelter space' should include space for RV's. It should be mandatory that such RV's park in this space. Vehicles over a certain height should not be allowed to permanently park on our city streets.

There is no way to candy coat this: City streets are not RV parks.

Hey, I am not defending them. We have the same problems in lots of vacant lots and parks. It is not right. Sunnyvale has several RV's permanently parked at the library. Convenient for them, since they spend their day in the library using the restrooms and tables. But I don't think the homeless shelter is expected to supply an RV lot and can't make it mandatory for them to use it.

However, check with the city about overnight parking and illegal camping regulations. It we can't park our own car on our own street for more than 72-hours without a citation, they shouldn't be allowed to park where you describe.

@resident of another community: I know you're not defending anything and I appreciate your comment.

I have checked and checked and re-checked about the over night parking regulations in Mountain View. Unless one lives in some arbitrarily determined residential zone, there are no regulations. Anyone with wheels can live - forever free - on our city streets.

I'm retired. I'm from New Orleans. Before I could afford to live on Royal Street - in the French Quarter - I had to commute about 45 minutes (each way) to work each day in order to get to my New Orleans job. It's expensive to live in certain areas. Those of us who do live in those areas should not have to have their streets become RV encampments. We deserve the quality of life we have worked so very hard to attain.

Don't get all up in arms against me. I don't have a bad feeling against people who are driven to live in these ways. I do 'pay it back'. We musn't say that some are more fortunate than others. We are not fortunate. Some of us worked long hard years to own 937 sq feet of condo air in Mountain View.

How are RV street squatters screened? Are any of them felons? Sex offenders who should register? Who, exactly, is living on our streets? Blaring their music into our neighborhoods that the city says is commercial? Sitting on their lawn chairs on our streets? Passed out drunk on our grass? Puking on our sidewalks?.....just to learn that the Mountain View Police Department is not longer marking tires in our area. That's a great feeling.

BTW, we received our property tax bill the other day. Some of you might be thinking that I'm a snob - at least I own property. Let's put it this way: I don"t own property expecting an RV encampment to develop at the end of my block. I don't pay taxes to have my street left uncleaned by the sanitation department - unless a vehicle isn't there. I don't pay taxes for my block to smell like a dirty toilet or to be afraid to walk at night.

I'm really upset. I don't even know if I'm sorry for this rant. This is how I feel.

I volunteered for many years at the Sunnyvale Armory to process and serve food to the homeless. Those using the Armory were mostly polite and had to obeyed the strict rules set up by the paid staff members running the shelter. The people you describe would have no interest in using such a shelter and would not qualify to use it.

Not only do these people give the law obeying homeless a bad name, but makes the public think we are doing nothing to help people forced out on the street. While the armory was open there were often people who preferred to use the nearby park rather than take advantage of the help the county offered just a block away.

This is not fair for residents like yourself. While you should not approach them in person, you should send your last message, not a rant BTW, to each councilman, city manager, public safety dept. in the City of Mountain View website and to the Voice. Hopefully others will do the same.