LINK TO PETITION
The cost to live in Cupertino is just too high: at nearly $2.5 million, the median home price more than doubled in just the last decade, and rents are typically above 3,000 a month; meaning that even a household making over $100,000 annually would be cost-burdened to rent a typical apartment in Cupertino! 50% of our De Anza College students are housing insecure, and only 4% of the campus lives in Cupertino. Why? Our policies and programs make it nearly impossible to build and sustain affordable housing. In the last decade, the number of homes built in Cupertino increased by just 0.1%. But RIGHT NOW, we can change course by supporting the Cupertino City Council in passing an ambitious “Housing Element”—to retain our families, students, teachers, and workers. Join us in making sure our next generation can continue to call Cupertino home.
This is an important moment for the future of Cupertino. Every city in California is currently updating their city’s Housing Element (for 2023-2031) that must ultimately be approved by the State of California. This means that we—as a community—get to decide if and how Cupertino becomes more inclusive and affordable! But we need your help to make this a reality by urging our city leaders to pass an ambitious Housing Element.
An ambitious Housing Element will influence who can live in our city, what our communities look like, whether our schools have stable enrollment through new families, and if we can adequately provide homes for diverse young families and aging seniors alike. But the City needs your help - the prior Council passed a Housing Element that the State has deemed noncompliant with the law. Failure to fix the non-compliant policies could result in significant consequences, like losing state funding and loss of local control. Cupertino has become so used to saying no, that we have forgotten how to pass policies that say “yes” to much needed changes, especially on building new homes.
Cupertino For All has outlined broad goals for what an ambitious Housing Element would do:
Affordability: Pass new rules to legalize building affordable homes to increase opportunities for teachers, healthcare workers, community college students, and workers to live in Cupertino.
Renter Protections: Establish reasonable protections for renters, who make up nearly half of Cupertino, as rents continue to skyrocket and families are displaced.
Preservation: Safeguard existing affordable homes, where lower income families may be at risk from new developments or expiring below market rate deeds.
Smart Climate-Friendly Projects: Promote the development of various types of homes, with new projects that increase access to transit corridors (walking, biking, public transit) and promote community gathering and green space.
Homelessness: Create opportunities for transitional housing, safe shelters, and resources for unhoused populations. These requirements are already required under state law, and Cupertino is not in compliance.
We have the opportunity of a lifetime to support the City Staff and Council in developing a compliant housing element that serves the needs of all of our community—teachers, firefighters, retirees, low wage workers, students, and immigrant families. Sign this petition to say that City Council and Staff must revise the Housing Element to be ambitious and legally compliant, so we can confidently plan for increased access to affordable homes.
Please sign to show your support!
