The Cupertino City Council is trying to avoid state legal requirements by planning for fewer homes at all income levels through its housing element update process! (specifically the sites inventory—ie planning where housing will get built) This update will dictates housing programs and policies and how much housing gets built from 2023-2031—nearly a decade!! We need an ambitious, thoughtful housing element that promotes affordable housing to the extent possible.
We need your voice to make sure they obey the law. Recently, San Francisco got a letter from the state of CA saying they must prove how certain "pipeline" affordable housing projects will get built. Cupertino is on track to repeat the same mistakes as San Francisco, meaning we will plan for FEWER affordable homes and also put ourselves in legal trouble with the state of California.
The Council is also planning around displacement of existing renters. The Hamptons is a current apartment complex that houses hundreds of residents—they claim that this site is likely to be redeveloped into more homes, without any proof that this will happen. Any new project would displace numerous renters in Cupertino. Instead, they could simply plan for more homes on existing underutilized lots in Cupertino, but they are opposed to the changes that would make affordable housing feasible on many of these sites, including height and density limitations.
The Council also does not want to plan around transit corridors and instead wants to further promote our complete reliance on personal automobiles, increasing emissions and reducing our quality of life. The City should focus its efforts on building homes in the Heart of the City. By building more homes along transit corridors and near places people work, play, and shop, the City can encourage more people to take transit and reduce traffic congestion. There are several Heart of the City Specific Plan areas that have 0 (zero) sites on the proposed site inventory.