Teacher housing proposed on Apple-owned Cupertino site

A new affordable housing development catering to teachers and school employees could be coming soon to Cupertino.

Santa Clara County officials want to build the project on a vacant North Wolfe Road lot currently owned by Apple. The goal is to give an estimated 75 to 100 educators and support staff, who often don’t make enough to rent or buy homes in the expensive West Valley region, an opportunity to live where they work.

The idea is a pet project of Supervisor Joe Simitian, who has co-hosted several town halls where he heard tales of teachers commuting long distances or living doubled-up in tiny apartments because they can’t afford housing near the schools where they teach.

“You listen to these stories and you think, my god, there’s got to be an answer,” Simitian said. “There’s got to be a solution. And there is.”

The project, which has yet to secure funding, also could open the door for more affordable housing in Cupertino, where the housing shortage is acute and the median rent for a one-bedroom apartment is $3,140, according to Apartment List. The teacher housing project would take up just about one-third of the 5-acre site, and Simitian hopes to eventually fill the rest of the parcel with additional low-income housing. The city is required by state law to plan for an additional 4,588 new housing units by 2031.

The proposal comes as interest in teacher housing is mounting throughout the Bay Area. Teachers and school employees often fall into a category known as the “missing middle” — people who make too much money to qualify for traditional affordable housing, but not enough to afford a home in the exorbitantly expensive Bay Area.

A four-unit below-market-rate development for teachers opened in Los Gatos this year thanks to efforts by Sarah Chaffin and her team at housing advocacy organization Support Teacher Housing. Simitian hopes to break ground this spring on a 110-unit teacher housing development he championed in Palo Alto. The Mountain View Whisman school board is building a 144-unit teacher housing development that’s set to be completed in 2024.

The median market rent in Santa Clara County is $2,348, but Santa Clara Unified, for example, offers a starting salary of $73,103 — meaning an entry-level teacher in that school district would need to make $500 more per month to be able to afford rent by themselves, according to a 2022 study by the UC Berkeley Terner Center for Housing Innovation.

Simitian and Supervisor Otto Lee have proposed building the Cupertino teacher housing project at 10333 N. Wolfe Road, next to the defunct Vallco Mall that is being turned into a massive housing, retail and office development. The two supervisors hope to acquire the site through a land swap with Apple. The board is set to vote on the deal at its March 14 meeting.

The board last year approved pursuing a new teacher housing development.

The property that the county has proposed exchanging with Apple is located at 10591 N. De Anza Blvd. in Cupertino — the site of a former Outback Steakhouse restaurant. Santa Clara County bought that property in 2021 with the intention of developing affordable housing there, but Apple has been coveting the site, as it is directly across the street from the tech company’s campus.

The land swap is a good deal for the county, Simitian said, as the North De Anza site is only about 1.5 acres, while the North Wolfe Road site is 5 acres — and Apple isn’t asking for any additional funds from the county.

Apple, which in 2019 pledged to contribute $2.5 billion in investments, donations and real estate to help combat the affordable housing crisis, declined to comment on the Cupertino land swap.

But even though securing a site for the teacher housing project would be a major first step, it still will be several years before educators and school staff could move in. The county still has to secure funds for the project, which is an increasingly difficult task as interest rates rise.

Chaffin of Support Teacher Housing, who spearheaded the development of the Los Gatos project, knows firsthand how tough that can be. To get that project done, she relied on donations from local businesses and organizations. Los Gatos Roofing built the roofs for free and Adnac Fire Protection donated a sprinkler system.

The Palo Alto teacher housing project, meanwhile, is backed in part by a $25 million grant from Meta (formerly known as Facebook).

“It would be fantastic if Apple could do the same or more on this project,” in Cupertino, Chaffin said.

Potentially complicating the process, Cupertino has a history of being less than welcoming to new housing. The state threatened to sue the city in 2019 for failing to meet its housing production obligations. And the Vallco project next door to the proposed teacher housing has faced years of setbacks, including lawsuits brought by residents opposed to the development.

But Simitian is confident his constituents will see the need for teachers to have affordable housing in the community where they work. It will help the area maintain its famed high-quality schools, he said, as teachers who spend less time commuting have more time to spend helping students or creating lesson plans.

Jason Baker, a member of the school board in the Campbell Union High School District, described the project, which also has the support of Cupertino Mayor Hung Wei, as exciting news.

“This is a great way to attract and retain topflight teachers and school staff,” he said in a statement. “The people who are essential to our schools and our students.”

Staff writer Hannah Kanik contributed to this report.