“Teacher Housing” site approved for the West Valley

• On March 14, the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors approved the acquisition of a site in Cupertino for affordable housing for teachers and other school staff.
• County Supervisors Joe Simitian and Otto Lee proposed the effort to enable local teachers and school staff to live in the communities they serve.
• The project turns lengthy commutes into time working with and for kids.

SAN JOSE – Last week, the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors approved the acquisition of a large parcel of land in Cupertino for affordable housing, beginning with a teacher housing development.

“No one wins when local teachers and school employees have to commute from miles and miles away,” said Simitian. “Time in the car is time that can’t be spent helping a struggling student; or preparing lesson plans; or attending any number of events that make up the fabric of our schools. By having teachers and school staff work and live nearby, we’re strengthening their role in the community.”

County Supervisors Joe Simitian and Otto Lee proposed the effort to bring educator housing to the West Valley last year, building upon the work Simitian championed in Palo Alto to develop housing for teachers and school staff at 231 Grant Avenue. The North County teacher housing development is anticipated to break ground this spring, and Simitian said he’s “excited about expanding the effort to West Valley school districts and their staff.”

“As a former school board member, and the son of two public school teachers, I’ve seen how much it helps our schools, educators, and communities when local teachers and school staff are able to live in the communities they serve,” said Simitian. “I’ve been pleased by the progress we’ve made in the northern part of our County, and I’m excited we now have an opportunity to make this happen in other parts of our County as well.”

“This just makes so much sense,” said Cupertino Mayor Hung Wei, who served on the Fremont Union High School District School Board for 11 years. “It helps keep our schools strong and provides additional affordable housing in our community. It’s a win-win.”

Simitian noted that the high cost of living in Santa Clara County makes it particularly difficult for schools to attract and retain teaching staff, many of whom have to choose between exorbitant housing costs or long and exhausting commutes from more affordable areas.

At the same time, school employees, particularly those in the early and middle parts of their careers, are part of what is sometimes referred to as the “missing middle” — they earn a bit too much to qualify for traditional affordable housing, but can’t afford the high cost of housing in Santa Clara County. A Redfin study from 2016, for example, found that virtually none of the homes available for sale in Santa Clara County were affordable on the average teacher salary.

And according to a report on Educator Workforce Housing from UC Berkeley’s Terner Center, 31% of teacher households across California who rent are characterized as “cost burdened”, meaning they typically spend more than 30% of their income on rent. Rent burden is even further exacerbated for other school employees who are critical to the operations of our schools and the composition of our communities: 43% of office staff, 50% of teacher assistants, 42% of janitors and maintenance workers, and 55% of food service workers are characterized as rent burdened.

“This is exciting news,” said Jason Baker, School Board Member in the Campbell Union High School District and former Mayor of Campbell. “This is a great way to attract and retain topflight teachers and school staff —  the people who are essential to our schools and our students.”

“The quality of our kids’ education suffers when teachers are exhausted from commuting over an hour each way daily,” said Supervisor Lee. “I have known many younger teachers who have left because of the high cost of living in our county. To support our children and their learning, we must care for those teaching them and provide affordable housing. Our teachers already sacrifice so much for us. This Cupertino site will help us keep teachers in the area and attract new ones to benefit our kids and schools.”

Simitian said the need for this kind of housing became widely apparent back in 2018 and 2019 when he moderated a series of teacher town halls that included open mic/listening sessions about how the housing crisis had affected teachers. Co-hosted by Support Teacher Housing, the town halls included hundreds of teachers who shared their personal stories of the struggles they faced to make ends meet while trying to “be there for their students.”

In 2018, Simitian proposed the County pilot a teacher housing development on County-owned land at 231 Grant Avenue in Palo Alto.  Aiming to break ground in Spring 2023, the 110-unit project will offer housing to teachers and staff employed by Mountain View Whisman School District, Los Altos School District, Palo Alto Unified School District, and Foothill-De Anza Community College District, which have contributed funds to the project; as well as school districts in South San Mateo County, thanks to a $25 million grant from Meta (formerly Facebook).

"It’s essential for Santa Clara County to invest in below-market rate rental units to ensure that we can attract and retain the most qualified and motivated classroom faculty and support staff for our K-12 schools and community colleges,” said Simon Pennington, Associate Vice President of College and Community Relations, Marketing, and Communications at Foothill College. “As a Santa Clara County tax payer and Community College employee, I see this investment paying dividends for decades to come, not only because our children will have access to the very best instructors, but because the teachers and their families will be living in, and supporting local businesses in, the communities they serve. This is a win for our children and a win for our communities."

Simitian said that progress on the North County project led various stakeholders in the West Valley community to reach out to see if bringing another teacher housing development to the County might be possible. “As we move closer to breaking ground on our pilot project, I’m excited that we now have a chance to get yet another effort under way.”

The West Valley site comprises 5.159 acres and is located at 10333 N. Wolfe Road in Cupertino. The County will have a year to conduct additional diligence, which includes obtaining the necessary project entitlements. Only a portion of the site will be used for the teacher housing. The remainder will be available for additional housing following community engagement and input.

Simitian also noted that community engagement and input will be essential to shaping the development. “To make a project like this work we need three things: a piece of dirt, funding, and community support,” said Simitian. “Now that we have identified a site we can start working with a developer, school districts, local educators and school staff, city governments, neighborhood groups, community members and various other stakeholders as we work to pull the other two pieces together.” 

For more information, see the March 14 legislative file.