San Jose kicks off 'reunification' program to connect unhoused people with home communities
By Jesse Gary I Published February 25, 2025 12:13pm I San Jose I KTVU FOX 2
SAN JOSE, Calif. - San Jose city leaders on Tuesday will announce a new plan designed to reconnect unhoused residents with family and friends in their home communities.
San Jose has roughly 6,000 unhoused residents and many are living in encampments by waterways, on city streets and in RVs.
Mayor Matt Mahan made getting unhoused people off city streets and out of encampments a major theme of his election platform, and he plans to pull a page from San Francisco's past.
He and others plan to unveil "Homeward Bound," which officials are calling a "reunification plan."
It will assist the unhoused with reconnecting with family and loved ones, by providing them with train or bus tickets so they can return home.
The same plan was first put into effect in San Francisco in 2005, when now Gov. Gavin Newsom was mayor.
Last year, the city looked to expand that program.
"At the end of the day, we’re trying to reunify people with their loved ones," Former San Francisco Supervisor Ahsha Safai said in 2024. "It's one of the most successful programs for getting people off the street. We want to put it in the code."
In March 2024, Mike Thornton, a San Francisco resident, said that if the city can prove where someone is from, they should "send them back to where they want to go back. Get them out of the city."
Mahan hopes his program will have a similar level of success, and will help close that rift between the unhoused and their families.
Irene Smith, a San Jose city council candidate, supports the plan.
"Is a bus ticket a pure exit from homelessness? No, it's not," she said. "But it's an onramp. It's one of the first rungs to housing success that gets you to the next level of housing."
She did acknowledge that she doesn't think it works for everyone.
"I think we have to be careful about the program," she said.
However, some advocates are dubious most or many of the unhoused will actually take advantage of the program.
Melissa Whitson, a University of New Haven psychologist, said "the tricky part is making sure not only does the unhoused person want to go back, but also that the family would be willing to have them come back."
Advocates for the unhoused say the plan seems sound on its surface, but implementation is difficult.
"The reality is that they're just moving people down the road, or somewhere else," Pastor Scott Wagers of CHAM Deliverance Ministry said. "Because it's not your problem anymore. So, it's been tried before here in San Jose, and a lot of people just didn't take the offer. Because there's a reason why they're not with their families."
Jesse Gary is a reporter based in the station's South Bay bureau. Follow him on the Instagram platform, @jessegontv and on Facebook, @JesseKTVU.