Agrihood was in development for nearly a decade. Compare that to a standard residential development to be sold at market value. Why do you think there’s a housing crisis in our state to begin with? Your run-of-the-mill greedy developer will avoid low-income developments like the plague — financially, they just aren’t worth it. If nothing else, we need more developers like The Core Companies, which are willing to take on these sorts of projects. That said, let’s dive in:

“[Residents] said they feel harassed by the management firm, which controls their environment”.

Because there are rules in place intended to keep the community orderly and pleasant for everyone to enjoy? And the management company actually bothers to enforce those rules? Incredible — their housing is heavily subsidized and they want to act like they own the place and turn it into an indoor encampment? No way. No one’s forcing them to stay; if they don’t like it, they can leave.

“Agrihood was promoted as a place where residents could grow their own vegetables, but residents aren’t allowed to plant seeds or tend to the garden. Farmscapes maintains the garden.”

The Agrihood website specifies that Farmscape (not “Farmscapes”) would be managing the farm and open space — nothing about the residents “planting seeds” or “tending to the garden”. Reading comprehension is an important skill. By the way, does anyone in their right mind believe people who are struggling not to be homeless are going to be running a farm? What’s the vision the article’s propagandist is suggesting has been robbed of the residents? That they would be unpaid farmhands? Or that they would put a few seeds in the ground and push around some compost whenever they felt like it and that, miraculously, a lush and bountiful harvest would follow? Delusional. Growing food is work that requires attention, discipline, and consistency — virtues that, let’s be real, probably aren’t abundant amongst these residents.

“Multiple residents have complained of seeing gnats and larvae in their apartments, and showed photos to San José Spotlight confirming that. Some said they saw larvae in their food”.

So where did these gnats and larvae come from? The propagandist would have us believe they were somehow built into the place. When I was eighteen-years-old and living on my own for the first time, I once left a half-eaten pot of soup in the sink for two weeks. When I finally realized I had to confront my mess, I found the pot teeming with larvae! Obviously, it was my landlord’s fault. I’m sure, like my eighteen-year-old self, the residents experiencing gnats and larvae keep an immaculate home.

“Disabled residents at Villas at the Park were left stranded for more than a week when elevators broke down and repairs were delayed”.

Why were the repairs delayed? The article’s propagandist is implying it’s because of the management company’s malevolence. After all, everyone knows elevators are easy to fix and their parts are cheap, standardized, and ubiquitous — just a quick trip to the elevator aisle at Home Depot and a how-to on YouTube… good to go! By the way, “stranded”? Rest assured, where there are elevators, there are stairs. While perhaps inconvenient or requiring assistance, no one was stranded.

“But residents say the development wasn’t designed with older adults in mind, as there’s a limited number of apartments with safety features like handle bars in bathrooms.”

If “the development wasn’t designed with older adults in mind”, how are there ANY “apartments with safety features like grab bars in bathrooms”? Here, again, the propagandist attempts to make perfect the enemy of good. Because there isn’t the exact number of apartments with hideous ADA features as there are residents who might prefer those features — it’s all terrible, the developer is greedy, and the management is evil. Sure. Remind me again, the residents who wanted an ADA apartment but instead got a standard apartment were forced into those units? And there’s no way those residents could just install or hire someone to install grab bars in their bathrooms — where would you even get ADA grab bars? You can’t just buy them like you can buy elevator parts.

“Shortly after the October fire, Sammy said she began experiencing difficulty breathing. She said her service dog died in March due to respiratory failure. Sammy, who has a history of asthma, took herself to the hospital emergency room numerous times, and was hospitalized for multiple days in April. She was sent home with an oxygen tank”.

“Multiple older adult residents say they’ve experienced respiratory issues resulting in hospitalizations”.

“The air quality assessment to Sammy’s apartment reviewed by San José Spotlight revealed the air quality was fair, just a notch above poor”.

So the overall picture being painted here is that smoke from a fire (which seemed to have been caused by a resident) has exacerbated existing health problems in some residents and killed a dog, and that’s somehow the fault of… the developer and management company? What? Nothing on the resident’s (or dog’s) age, medical history, or lifestyle as possible contributing factors. Nothing from the residents on what was conveyed to them from the hospital as to what may have caused their symptoms or worsened conditions. Nothing on how the ‘fair’ air quality compares to similar apartments and the lifestyle of their occupants. Is ‘fair’ not also a notch below ‘good’? What do you suppose the air quality is like where these residents might otherwise be living — at an encampment alongside a freeway, with multiple cooking/warming fires and generators?

Enough. There’s no journalism here, just a propagandistic screed by a woke activist LARPing as a reporter. The tired and deceitful suggestion being pushed here, that this is yet another case of oppressor/oppressed dynamics, is gross and contemptible. The article’s propagandist is supposedly concerned with homelessness and inequity, implying a desire to see those issues more effectively addressed. The notion that the most effective way to do that is by demonizing one of the few developers actually willing to operate in the realm of low-income housing is profoundly wrongheaded. Navigating the development of low-income housing in California is a thankless nightmare — with the cherry on top being lazy, one-sided, inaccurate articles like this. If the perspective presented here gains any traction, the net result will be less low-income housing. While it’s almost certainly the case that the developer and management could have done better or more in some areas, making perfect the enemy of good is just loathsome — anyone who has ever attempted to actually make or build something would know this.

If you really want something done, the write to HUD.

I had an issue with RDC and Quetzal Gardens.

Send a copy of your request to “recall funding”, for your cause – that may be a breach.

I wrote to Dr. BEN CARSON at HUD.

I did my best to include suspected HUD violations.

You might want to also –

Send a copy of that letter to every Council Member, every Department Head, every State and Federal Political Official, and the White House!!!!!

Let the Community know if you get action.

Developers and Owners do nothing, NOTHING -UNTIL.YOU HIT THEM IN THE POCKET BOOK.

In Community Spirit,
Danny Garza

President
Plata Arroyo Neighborhood Association and Gateway East N.A.C.

I believe how the County/City refer people into “supportive” units is a violation of their civil rights because they concentrate suffering/sick people into giant buildings without access to the true community. That is Villas defined. And The Kelsey, which i was hopeful about, is now not far behind.

The problem isn’t property management largely or the tenants – it’s the system the County/City has set into motion under the Housing First model, which i was even sold on circa 2016 to 2019 before seeing it in action. The operators/property managers know it because they are often thrown under the bus – but too afraid to speak up because they will lose funding. The best thing we can do for these tenants is expose to truth and fix some of these errors at the root.