CC 12-20-2022 Oral Communications (2)DraftFeedback
Cupertino Housing ElementPresentation by
Cupertino for All 2023-2031
The Housing Element is a chapter of the General
Plan (a master document that guides city
development). Every city in California has both a
general plan and a housing element within that GP.
Cupertino recently released its first draft of the HE,
triggering a minimum 30-day public review period.
The city will accept feedback on this draft only until
Dec. 23 - the closest council meeting is Dec. 20.
CFA's steering committee has gathered the
following feedback and would like to inform
membership & the broader public before
submission on behalf of the community.
About
Presentation by
Page 02 of 15
Cupertino for All
Cupertino Housing Element
2023-2031
Overview
Introduction
Goals, Policies,
Strategies
Needs/Constraints
Analysis
Vacant/Available Sites
Energy
Conservation
01
02
03
05
04
Page
The California Department of Housing
and Community Development (HCD) has
several expected sections of a complete
housing element. Cupertino's draft has
the following chapters/components.
03 of 15 Cupertino Housing Element
2023-2031
Appendices06
Goals/Policies Feedback (1)
Recommendation 1:
Clarity, or won't make sense
Create a true distinction between goals,
strategies, and policies. The lack of clarity
creates an immense amount of repetitive
content without real substance. Many goals
only have a handful of policies or strategies.
Create new, thoughtful policies rather than
focusing on the continuation of existing
policies--many of which have underperformed
or failed to meet our housing needs. Reference
other city housing element programs and
policies.
Recommendation 2:
Craft New Policies
Goals/Policies Feedback (2)
Certain policies have carveouts that greatly
weaken their efficacy, such as lowering parking
minima for only SROs/Studios, as opposed to
all housing. Other policies merely comply with
state law, rather than make an effort to exceed
the bare minimum.
Much of the language around goals/policies
revolves around existing residents, when Cupertino's
largest unmet housing needs are daytime
residents--De Anza students, teachers, service
workers, etc. Programs should specifically focus on
housing for these demographics.
Recommendation 3:
Strengthen Policies
Recommendation 4:
Target non-residents
(1 ) H o u s i n g f o r
a l l I n c o m e l e v e l s
(2 ) A f f o r d a b l e t o
a d i v e r s i t y o f
p e o p l e
(3 ) S t a b l e
n e i g h b o r h o o d s
D e s i g n a t e
e n o u g h l a n d w /
e n o u g h d e n s i t y .
D e n s i t y d i v e r s i t y
a c r o s s c i t y
M i x e d -u s e n e a r
t r a n s i t a n d j o b s
B y -r i g h t "p r i o r i t y
h o u s i n g s i t e s "
L a n d u s e a n d
z o n i n g c h a n g e s
S t r e a m l i n e A D U s
f u r t h e r *
L o t
c o n s o l i d a t i o n s
o b j e c t i v e
d e v e l o p m e n t
s t a n d a r d s , w i t h
f l e x i b l e c a s e s
D e l e t i n g p l a n s t o
a d v a n c e t h e
H e a r t o f t h e C i t y
P l a n
R e d e s i g n a t i n g
s i t e s f r o m
p r e v i o u s c y c l e r e z o n i n g f o r s i t e
i n v e n t o r y
c o m p l y i n g w i t h
s t a t e l a w o n b y -
r i g h t n a v i g a t i o n
c e n t e r s
C o m p l y i n g w i t h
S B 9 --a l l o w s i n g l e
f a m i l y h o m e
s p l i t s
L o w e r f e e s f o r
b u i l d i n g h o m e s *L o w e r p a r k i n g
r e q u i r e m e n t s f o r
S R O s a n d s t u d i o s
F e e s o n m a r k e t
r a t e h o u s i n g
D i v e r s e h o u s i n g
o p t i o n s (t y p e s )
h o u s i n g f o r
s p e c i a l n e e d s
o f f i c e m i t i g a t i o n
f e e s (c o n t i n u e )
i n c l u s i o n a r y
o r d i n a n c e (1 5 %
B M R )
U s e t h e B M R f u n d
(c o n t i n u e )
o f f i c e m i t i g a t i o n
f e e s (c o n t i n u e )
r e s o u r c e s +h e l p
f o r t h o s e w h o
w a n t t o b u i l d
B M R
o f f i c e m i t i g a t i o n
f e e s (c o n t i n u e )
b u y i n g s u r p l u s
l a n d a n d i n f i l l
d e v e l o p m e n t i n c e n t i v e s f o r
b u i l d i n g B M R
(c o n t i n u e )
d e n s i t y b o n u s
(c o n t i n u e )
E n c o u r a g e E L I
a n d D D h o u s i n g
a b i d i n g b y s t a t e
l a w o n e m p l o y e e
h o u s i n g *
F u n d
r e h a b i l i t a t i o n
p r o j e c t s
a s s i s t p r o p e r t y
o w n e r s w i t h
r e p a i r s
p r e s e r v e
e x i s t i n g h o m e s
c o n t i n u e t o d o
t h e s a m e t h i n g s
f o r r e h a b i l i t a t i o n
m o n i t o r B M R u n i t
o c c u p a n c y &
p r e v e n t B M R -t o
m a r k e t r a t e
c o n t i n u e
"b a n n i n g " c o n d o
c o n v e r s i o n s
d e m o l i t i o n
c o n t r o l s (1 :1
r e p l a c e m e n t )--
a l r e a d y s t a t e l a w
p r o p e r t y c l e a n u p
c a m p a i g n s
Visual Breakdown of Draft Programs/Policies
(4 ) E n e r g y +w a t e r
c o n s e r v a t i o n (5 ) S o c i a l
s e r v i c e s
(6 ) E q u a l h o u s i n g
a c c e s s (7 ) P a r t n e r s h i p s
c o n s e r v a t i o n i n
n e w d e v e l o p m e n t
c o n t i n u e t o
e n f o r c e t i t l e 2 4
(s t a t e w i d e )
r e d u c i n g
r e s i d e n t i a l
e m i s s i o n s
s o l a r p a n e l s ,
g r e e n r o o f s , o t h e r
c a r b o n n e u t r a l *
s u p p o r t o r g s t h a t
d o t h i s w o r k
c o n t i n u e
a l l o w i n g
e m e r g e n c y
s h e l t e r s *
u s e a c t u a l c i t y
f u n d s t o s u p p o r t
l o w -i n c o m e
p e o p l e (s e r v i c e s )
c o n t i n u e
o p e r a t i n g a
r o t a t i n g
h o m e l e s s
s h e l t e r *
e l i m i n a t e h o u s i n g
d i s c r i m i n a t i o n
p u b l i c
a w a r e n e s s /l i s t e n i n g
s e s s i o n s
c o n t i n u e f a i r
h o u s i n g s e r v i c e s
a n d
i n v e s t i g a t i o n s
h o u s i n g e q u i t y
a w a r e n e s s
a f f i r m a t i v e l y
m a r k e t e x i s t i n g
a f f o r d a b l e
h o u s i n g *
c o o r d i n a t e w i t h
s c h o o l d i s t r i c t s
c o o r d i n a t e w i t h
r e g i o n a l b o d i e s
p u b l i c p r i v a t e
p a r t n e r s h i p s
c o o r d i n a t e w i t h
e v e r y o n e e l s e
Some Sample Policies
Sample 1: Adaptive Re-use.
Examine opportunities to allow for the adaptive
reuse/conversion or replacement of vacant or
underperforming commercial spaces and
parking structures to residential units.
Encourage the development or conversion of
affordable live/workspace units, and ensure
owners of existing Live/Work units are aware of
the Homebuyer Assistance Program available
for their unit when marketing their unit for
resale, in an effort to expand affordable
homeownership options.
Sample 2: Live/Work Units.
Some Sample Policies
Sample 3: Family Friendly
Housing
Promote housing designs and unit mix to
attract multigenerational households by
encouraging housing features and more
bedrooms (including four-bedroom units), as
well as other on-site amenities, such as usable
outdoor open space for multigenerational use,
and multipurpose rooms that can be used for
after-school homework clubs, computer, art, or
other resident activities.
The City could assist lower income households
with moving costs, deposits, and securing
replacement housing. Many renters are
displaced because of renovations,
redevelopment, and similar activities
Sample 4: Tenant Relocation
Assistance
Some Sample Policies
Sample 5: Rental
Preservation Program
The City will provide low interest rate loans to
existing rental property owners to improve the
habitable condition(s) of their rental units
occupied by very low, low and moderate-
income tenants. Performance Metric(s) # of
rental units renovated; # of special need units
assisted; Amount of Funds Expended
The City will evaluate its current committees
and commission membership to determine if
the membership is reflective of the socio-
economic and racial mix of Cupertino or if
there are any missing voices. Ensuring key
bodies like the planning and housing
commissions have at least 1 tenant, 1
homeowner, and 1 BMR resident.
Sample 6: Resident
Engagement
Some Sample Policies
Sample 7: Prohousing
Designation
City will seek a Prohousing Designation from HCD for enacting favorable zoning and
land use policies, policies to accelerate the production of housing, reduction of
construction and development policies, and providing financial subsidies. The
Prohousing designation will provide incentives, in the form of additional points or
preferences in the scoring of competitive applications for housing and
infrastructure.
Needs/Constraints Feedback(1)
Recommendation 1:
Regional Context
Recommendation 2:
Identify more constraints
While there is ample county data provided,
housing needs should be better illustrated by
comparing Cupertino's demographics to
surrounding cities that have more
socioeconomic diversity, such as Mountain
View and Sunnyvale. Segregation and AFFH
context should explore the low rate of
Latino/Latinx residents, compared to
surrounding cities.
Several constraints appear to be missing,
including but not limited to (1) local control and
neighborhood opposition, (2) underutilized
land such as dying strip malls, (3) relatively low
surface area for development, (4) state law
evasion/loopholes, (5) permit processing times
Additionally, several other state laws are
missing that are in need of compliance like AB
2097 and AB 2011.
Needs/Constraints Feedback(2)
Recommendation 3:
Focus on missing ages
Recommendation 4:
Daytime resident needs
The housing needs assessment glances over
the extreme shortage of young adults in
Cupertino, with the limited population present
being almost entirely renters. This should have
a greater emphasis, as young residents are the
present and future of Cupertino.
The needs analysis talks about migrant
farmworkers and female-headed households,
but does not mention the unique housing
needs of teachers, adjunct faculty, low-wage
workers, De Anza students, young professionals,
or seniors aging in place.
Site Inventory Feedback(1)
Recommendation 1:
Clarify ELI + Expiring BMR
Recommendation 2:
Reduce Pipeline Reliance
Chapter 4 for vacant sites states that it covers all
income categories, but does not dive into
Extremely Low Income housing or Acutely Low
Income housing. Additionally, the summary does
not include the hundreds of Below-Market Rate
homes that will be leaving our inventory in the
next 8 years. Additionally, ADUs are cited as VLI
options, which seems unrealistic.
2/3 of the inventory is pipeline project, 85% of
which is Vallco + Hamptons, two large projects
that are extremely unlikely to be completed
within the next 8 years. The City must show
proof that there is a likelihood of development
for the number of homes expected here, or
create a larger non-pipeline buffer overall.
Site Inventory Feedback(2)
Recommendation 3:
Emphasize Heart of City
Recommendation 4:
Be transit-oriented
Only 114 units or 2% of the planned inventory is in
the Heart of the City, the area that has historically
been designated for major development. HOTS
includes Stevens Creek, our main transit corridor.
Plan for more sites or greater densities in this
specific area, especially in light of AB 2011
As VTA does its visionary network process for
future decades, along with its Stevens Creek
Corridor future vision, Cupertino should select
sites around potential room for transit growth,
especially since BMR residents are less likely to
own a vehicle.
1 8 3 018301830
P l a n n e dPlannedPlanned 5 3 7 553755375
t o t a ltotaltotal3,5 4 53,5 4 53,5 4 5
P i p e l i n ePipelinePipeline
6 6 %6 6 %6 6 %3 3 %3 3 %3 3 %
Visual Breakdown of Site Inventory
6 0 0600600
H a m p t o n sHamptonsHamptons 2 5 9259259
W e s t p o r tWestportWestport 2 0 6206206
M a r i n aMarinaMarina240224022402
V a l l c oVallcoVallco 7 87878
O t h e rOtherOther
3 ,5 4 53,5 4 53,5 4 5
P i p e l i n ePipelinePipeline
6 6 %6 6 %6 6 %
3000 of the 3,545 pipeline units
are Vallco+Hamptons, two
major projects that have not
been demonstrated as likely to
be built by the end of the 8 year
RHNA cycle.
2 82828
C r e s t o n -P h a r l a pCreston-P h a r l a pCreston-P h a r l a p
1 21212
H o m e s t e a d -V i l l aHomestead-V i l l aHomestead-V i l l a
6 76767
J o l l y m a nJollymanJollyman
3 93939
M o n t a V i s t a S o u t h
M o n t a V i s t a S o u t h
M o n t a V i s t a S o u t h
6 16161
N o r t h B l a n e yNorth B l a n e yNorth B l a n e y162162162
S o u t h B l a n e ySouth B l a n e ySouth B l a n e y
2 22222
B u b bBubbBubb
3 83838
H e a r t o f C i t yHeart o f C i t yHeart o f C i t y
W e s tWestWest434343
H e a r t o f C i t yHeart o f C i t yHeart o f C i t y
C r o s s r o a d sCrossroadsCrossroads
3 33333
H e a r t o f C i t yHeart o f C i t yHeart o f C i t y
C e n t r a lCentralCentral
2 72727
H o m e s t e a dHomesteadHomestead
1 3 5135135
H e a r t o f C i t yHeart o f C i t yHeart o f C i t y
E a s tEastEast
2 1 2212212
S t e l l i n g G a t e w ayStelling G a t e w ayStelling G a t e w ay471471471
S o u t h D e A n z aSouth D e A n z aSouth D e A n z a 2 5 7257257
V a l l c o D i s t r i c tVallco D i s t r i c tVallco D i s t r i c t323323323
N o r t h V a l l c oNorth V a l l c oNorth V a l l c o
4 74747
M o n t a V i s t a N o r t h
M o n t a V i s t a N o r t h
M o n t a V i s t a N o r t h
1 8 3 018301830
P l a n n e dPlannedPlanned33%3 3 %3 3 %
Other Feedback
Recommendation 1:
Purposeful Outreach
Recommendation 2
Name mistakes
HCD will be actively looking for community outreach
tailored to those most affected by the housing crisis,
along with a clear connection of how it has resulted
in the city's chosen policy recommendations for its
HE. Outreach is currently disconnected from policies.
Proposed solutions to community concerns are
insufficient such as "remove barriers to housing." The
draft show very little outreach to non-residents, or
people who want to live here.
The City should be honest about its various
failures in conducting this Housing Element
update process, such as dismantling the
community stakeholder group because the
prior council ideologically disagreed with its
proposed members, or conducting a housing
survey biased toward limiting the construction
of housing.
Recommendation 3:
Beyond Status Quo
Recommendation 4:
Strong 3p incorporation
This draft is focused on maintaining the housing
status quo in Cupertino as much as possible,
rather than pushing for an ambitious vision. Most
policies are just continuations of existing ones.
Housing needs are focused on existing residents.
The draft shows no vision or connection to
commercial activity, walking/biking space,
transit use, open public spaces etc.
Modern affordable housing discourse revolves around
the "3 Ps" — production (of housing), preservation(of
housing), and protection (of renters). This framework is
not clearly present in this document, with few plans to
preserve existing units (including naturally affordable),
and few plans to protect renters (relocation assist, legal
guidance, etc). Needs analyses downplays renter
struggles. Lack of reactive housing policies for
increasing unhoused population. Council should
instruct staff to list strong policies for each P from pro-
housing cities like Emeryville or Mountain View.
Other Feedback