SAN JOSE, Calif. (KRON) – A South Bay father and son are in a bind with Caltrans planning to sweet their encampment tomorrow. They set up a Dia de los Muertos altar last month, and Caltrans had initially planned the sweep then, but it agreed last minute to hold off until after the holiday.
The family is now hoping the sweep can be delayed a little longer. They say they are holding out hope they can find some kind of housing solution as they have only been homeless for just under 90 days.
Since the Day of the Dead, Miguel Maruyama and his son have given a corner of dirt off Highway 280 the Christmas spirit. He says his nativity scene just took a couple of hours to build.
“Not my best work. Not trying to show off, but I do this every year,” Maruyama said.
It also helps that his past job was as a handyman, but he was fired from that job, which also provided him housing. Maruyama and his son are now homeless and live on a freeway on-ramp.
Maruyama says he built this nativity scene to raise awareness of his situation. He did the same thing last month with the Dia de los Muertos altar.
“I’m sad, I’m mad. After I tried to reach out to the authorities writing letters and stuff and I haven’t heard anything,” he said.
Posting new signs, Caltrans is now coming to sweep their encampment Friday morning.
“I don’t know where they need me to go, but they’re going to move me and I don’t know where to go,” Maruyama said.
So far, the pair has a couple of leads but nothing confirmed.
“These people have been unhoused for 90 days. The system should try to help people who have been unhoused for less than 90 days,” said South Bay homelessness advocate Shaunn Cartwright.
If Caltrans does come and sweep Maruyama and his son, they say there’s nowhere to go. They only ask they leave an altar for their beloved dog.
Maruyama says they will be swept by 8 a.m. Friday morning. KRON4 reached out to Caltrans to find out if there could be any more delay in this process and we have not heard back.
