On a warm May afternoon, Butch Larson and David Garcia leaned intently over a makeshift workbench outside Larson’s tent, one of a dozen lining the Guadalupe River Trail in South San José .

Above them, cars roared along an overpass on Highway 85, enveloping the encampment in an unceasing din, but providing the pair a break from the midday sun.

Larson tinkered with the underside of a small skateboard. He worked slowly, still recovering mobility in his right arm after suffering a stroke last year. Larson has been unhoused since 2012, living for the last four years in this encampment off Cherry Avenue. Garcia arrived a year or two later.

Just a hundred yards away, a construction crew worked on what San José officials hope will be future homes for Larson and Garcia: a 128-unit tiny home vi

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