Long story short…



Here’s what you need to know this week — in 30 seconds or less: 

• San José moved another 1,800 people indoors and closed its last large tent encampments, but some individuals need more help than the city can offer. 
• We’re asking the Governor to sign legislation that prices the true impact of copper wire theft. 
• Our latest energy pilot shows that new hot water heaters powered by hyper-efficient heat pumps can be installed without expensive panel upgrades, saving you money.

Dear Neighbor,

This week we announced that we moved nearly 1,800 people off the streets over the last 18 months. That’s more than 3 people exiting encampments per day, every day. 

And in the process, we shut down every large-scale encampment in San José – including Columbus Park and the Jungle.

We’ve proven — at scale — that we can get more people indoors faster and improve quality of life for the entire community by changing our approach.

So how’d we do it? 

We stopped letting the perfect be the enemy of the good. We let go of the rigid ideology preventing us from treating this crisis like the emergency it is. 



We added more than 1,000 new shelter beds to our interim housing system. We make homeless outreach services more efficient and effective. And we paired that compassion with accountability by enforcing property and quality of life laws.

More people are indoors, more people are graduating to permanent housing (already 39% of those who have come indoors), and less people are dying on our streets. Each year I’ve been in office, we’ve mourned fewer lives lost on our streets.

And that for me is the ultimate measure of success. 

Naysayers call shelter a “bridge to nowhere.” I challenge them to explain how living beside the river is better. 

Critics say our progress is just about making the city look good and hiding the problem. It’s true that I believe we all deserve to live in safe, clean neighborhoods.

But I challenge them to visit our tiny homes and see how much better people’s lives are there than in a tent encampment.

It’s easy to criticize that which isn’t perfect. But it’s a lot harder and frankly more important to deliver measurable progress. I’d say that fewer people living outside, more people moving into permanent housing, less trash and blight on our streets, and fewer people dying outside is progress, though I’ll be the first to say that we have a long way to go.  

This week we also announced a new way to measure whether what we’re doing is working — not once every two years like the federally-mandated Point in Time (PIT) homeless count, but at least once every quarter. We’re improving how we measure so that we can adjust our solutions as we go and be more data-driven in our effort to end homelessness. 

That matters because the closer we get to functional zero — where no one has to live outside and more people are housed than become homeless each year — the harder the work becomes.

People still living on our streets today are the hardest to-to-reach members of our homeless population. A higher percentage struggle with severe mental illness, addiction, or both as many of the folks ready to accept help have received it. Some have been offered the opportunity to come indoors or access services again and again and are simply not in a place where they can accept it.

An interim housing unit alone is not enough to help them. Neither is a permanent supportive housing unit. So this next chapter has to be focused on treatment and accountability.

The City will keep doing our job — optimizing our shelter system, conducting outreach, and keeping our neighborhoods safe and clean. But we desperately need the State and County to fulfill their responsibility to provide the behavioral health and addiction treatment our most vulnerable residents need.

And we need the State to give us better tools for getting people into treatment when their conditions make that extremely difficult. 

This means building enough mental health and addiction treatment beds so that when someone is ready — or required — to enter treatment, there is actually somewhere for them to go.

And it means continuing to strengthen the laws that allow us to intervene when someone is so sick that they can no longer make rational decisions about their own health and safety.

California has taken incremental steps in this direction. But we need to go farther. Because leaving someone suffering from severe mental illness or addiction on a sidewalk is not compassion. 

We’ve proven we can dramatically reduce unsheltered homelessness. The next challenge is harder: reaching the people who need our help the most and are the least likely to accept it.

Sincerely,

Mayor Matt

On Monday, I joined Assemblymember Mark Gonzalez to call on Governor Newsom to protect our safety and our infrastructure by holding copper wire thieves accountable.

Today, when someone rips out copper wire from our street lights, they make a couple hundred bucks selling it to a junkyard. 

Cities pay thousands – sometimes more – to fix it. 

But if caught, the suspect's sentencing is tied to the resale value, not what it costs to fix what they broke. Not to mention accounting for the impacts that are harder to calculate – the fear that kids face walking home in the dark, the workers who commute before sunrise and after sunset, and the businesses trying to keep their employees and customers safe.

This isn’t a San José problem or a Los Angeles problem. It’s a California problem. And we need the state to lean in and solve it.

AB 1941, which San José is proud to sponsor, gives law enforcement stronger tools to target repeat and organized offenders who steal and sell illicit metal.

And just as importantly, it creates a statewide system for law enforcement, public agencies, telecommunications companies and recyclers to share information and connect the dots across jurisdictions.

Because repairing the damage after it happens will never be enough. We have to make stealing and damaging our public infrastructure harder, make selling it harder, and make the consequences real for the people who keep doing it.

We’re doing everything we can at the local level. Now we need the state to help us finish the job. That’s why we’re calling on Governor Newsom to sign AB 1941.

Imagine your hot water heater breaks right before the end of the month. 

You need hot water back quickly – but the budget is already tight and bills are about to be due. 

If you have an older home, switching from gas to a heat pump water heater can require an electrical-panel upgrade, adding thousands of dollars and more delay.

So we piloted a solution – and the early results are promising. 

In partnership with Rewiring America and PG&E, we tested whether 120-volt heat pump water heaters could work in homes as they are today, including homes with older 100-amp panels.

Here’s what we learned. Ten participating households were able to install these units without an expensive panel upgrade, and installations can often be completed in three to six hours.

That makes a real difference for a family dealing with an unexpected repair.

Through San José Clean Energy’s rebate and Rewiring America’s fixed project pricing, participating customers can bring their out-of-pocket cost down to about $2,950. With zero-interest financing over five years, that comes to roughly $49 a month with no upfront cost.

The broader pilot has already helped more than two dozen homeowners make the switch.

These water heaters can also help us use the electric grid more efficiently. They can heat water during the middle of the day, when renewable electricity is abundant, and store that energy for families to use later.

As more homes adopt this technology, shifting electricity use away from the busiest evening hours can reduce pressure on the grid and help us make better use of clean power.

Clean-energy policy has to work in people’s everyday lives. We can’t ask people to spend money they can’t afford in order to achieve our climate goals. That means finding solutions without surprise costs, providing affordable financing, speeding up installations and leveraging technology that works in the homes people already have.

This pilot shows how San José can keep moving toward a cleaner future while making that transition more affordable and practical for residents.

And if you’re 15-24 years old and have more ideas to make San José cleaner, greener or more resilient, you can apply for $1,000–$5,000 through the San José

Youth Climate Action Fund.

Projects can focus on clean energy, sustainable transportation, climate resilience and more. Applications are due September 30.

Ever wanted an inside look at City Hall? Our office is looking for capable high school and college students to join our dynamic team. As an intern, you’ll have the opportunity to do exciting, hands-on work with our Communications, Neighborhood Outreach, and Data teams. Apply by TONIGHT, Sunday, September 20th!

Let’s Do Lunch 

September 1st through September 30th, 2026 

This September, join Santana Row for Let‘s Do Lunch: a Taste The Row weekday dining event featuring $25 prix-fixe lunches at participating Santana Row restaurants. Discover new favorites, and learn more here.

Mid-Autumn Moon Festival: A Family Celebration

Sunday, September 26th from 4:00 PM to 10:00 PM

Grand Century Mall, 1111 Story Road, San Jose, CA 95111

Join the Story Road Business Association for the Mid-Autumn Festival celebrating family and community. Enjoy music, performances, lanterns, games, food, and more! Bring this tradition to life with other San José families and learn more here.

10th Annual Little Italy Festival

Sunday, October 4th from 11:00 AM to 7:00 PM

Plaza de San Jose

Returning for its 10th year, celebrate vibrant culture, incredible food, and community at the Annual Little Italy San Jose Festival — one of the premier cultural events in the Bay Area! This beloved, family-friendly Italian street festival brings the sights, sounds, and flavors of Italy right to Silicon Valley. Get all the details here. 

Phantom of the Opera: Broadway San Jose

From October 7th through October 18th

Plaza de San Jose

Telling the story of Christine Daaé, a young soprano whose extraordinary voice enchants a mysterious masked figure, the new Phantom of the Opera North American tour comes to the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts October 7 -18, 2026. Grab your tickets here. 

Diwali Carnival

Saturday, October 24th from 2:00 PM to 10:00 PM

Plaza de San Jose

Enjoy vibrant cultural performances, traditional Ravan Dehan ceremony, authentic Indian food vendors, Bollywood music & dance, and carnival fun for the whole family. No tickets needed — everyone is welcome! Learn more here.

Celebrating El Grito

Last week, Santa Clara County won a court order that stopped an ICE detention center near Gilroy. Here in San José, we voted to block private detention centers in our city. This week, we celebrated Mexican independence and the spirit of El Grito. ¡Viva México and Viva San José!

Register to Vote!

Last week, we celebrated National Voter Registration Day with SJSU votes. Click here to make sure your voice is heard: https://vote.santaclaracounty.gov/register-vote/how-register-vote

Building a Stronger Neighborhood in Guadalupe-Washington

I joined our Guadalupe-Washington neighbors yesterday morning to hear directly about the issues that matter most to them. From traffic safety to sidewalk litter, conversations like these help us turn your community concerns into action.

Welcoming Back Andy’s Pet Shop

Andy’s Pet Shop has never been just a pet shop. I grew up with stories about Andy‘s from my Italian grandmother whose family settled in San José over a century ago. Since opening in 1950, Andy’s has been a gathering place in our city — a place to learn about pets and animals and, most importantly, connect with one another. We were thrilled to welcome Andy’s (and that iconic sign!) back last week. Check out their new store on Bascom Ave!

New Pho San Jose on Tully Rd

Every San Joséan has a favorite phở spot because phở is quintessentially San José: immigrant roots, family-run businesses and really, really good food. Could the newest Phở San José on Tully become yours?

Honoring Dave Fadness

The best communities are built by the people who love where they live. Dave Fadness understood that — and lived it every day. We honored his legacy laser week with a community beautification at Vista Park. Join us next time: https://www.sjmayormatt.com/clean-ups

Let’s Put your Neighborhood on the Map!

Neighborhood leaders, scan the QR code to register your neighborhood and make sure you’re represented on the City’s map! Let’s keep connecting, building community, and making our neighborhoods stronger together. Save the Date: Neighborhood Conference — October 3!