CC 11-16-2021 Study Session Item No. 1 Housing Element Update_Written CommunicationsCC 11-16-21
Study Session #1
Housing Element
Update
Written Comments
1
Cyrah Caburian
From:Connie Cunningham <cunninghamconniel@gmail.com>
Sent:Tuesday, November 16, 2021 10:03 AM
To:City Council; City Clerk
Cc:Kerri Heusler
Subject:Second Revision of input: Housing Element Study Session NOV 16 CC Agenda Item 1
Follow Up Flag:Follow up
Flag Status:Completed
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the
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Dear Mayor, Vice‐Mayor and Councilmembers:
As I thought more about this Stakeholder Focus Group, I remembered that we cannot assume that minority voices are
included among them, although the groups I have suggested cover many slices of our City’s residents. Minority voices,
especially Black and Latinx, are a small percentage of our City. To address the requirement for Affirmatively Furthering
Fair Housing (AFFH) we need to ensure these voices are on our Stakeholder Focus Group. This does not necessarily raise
the number of Stakeholders on the Focus Group. It does highlight the need to actively search for voices among the
stakeholder categories who are Black or Latinx. I have put these comments (in blue) in my original/revised email below
so the thoughts can be read as a whole.
Sincerely,
Connie Cunningham
_______________________________________________________
Dear Mayor, Vice‐Mayor and Councilmembers:
Subject: Stakeholder Focus Group, Housing Element process
The Housing Element report by EMC for Nov 16 includes the idea for a stakeholder focus group to be assigned by the
City Council. It includes 7 categories as possible stake holders, although 10 is the estimated number in the group. I urge
the Council to include 3 4 5 more categories: a person with lived unhoused experience, a non‐profit home builder and a
student from De Anza College and a representative for seniors. I note that the Council must consider adding minority
voices to the Stakeholder Focus Group by either raising the number of Stakeholders, or selecting minority voices who
belong to the groups already being considered.
The first category would include someone that has not been included in the past, but more recently has been
included—Santa Clara County and organizations that help the unhoused, now realize that the opinion of people with
unhoused experience can inform our understanding of what they need and how to provide housing.
In the second category, non‐profit homebuilders have different challenges than for‐profit homebuilders, so their voice
would add much to the conversation.
In the third category would be a person (currently a student) who already has been facing the tough housing market as a
high school graduate, and will be looking ahead to their prospects after college.
2
The fourth category that needs a seat on the Stakeholder Focus Group are seniors. They want housing they can
downsize into. Given that 1/3 of households have someone over the age of 60, that’s a pretty sizable population that
needs housing more suitable to their needs. 91% of the city is zoned SFR (Single‐Family), so senior friendly, denser
housing would free up larger single family homes for families.
The fifth category that needs a seat on the Stakeholder Focus Group is that of minority voices. This does not necessarily
raise the number of Stakeholders on the Focus Group. It does highlight the need to actively search for voices among the
Stakeholder categories who are Black or Latinx.
Eleven (11) representatives would not be too much for a Focus Group, and all categories need to be included.
I urge you to enrich our discussion with the stakeholders focus group by ensuring these five categories of voices are on
the focus group.
Sincerely,Connie L Cunningham
Chair, Housing Commission (self‐only)
Excerpt from the report: “Stakeholder Meetings: We anticipate a total of three stakeholder focus group meetings.
Stakeholder groups are made up of individuals with interest in a process or project. We are looking for direction from
City Council regarding the makeup of the stakeholder group and selection process, and we request that Council share
guidance on criteria for no more than 10 members. A well‐rounded stakeholder group could include property owners,
renters, block group leaders, developers, business owners, local employees, and service providers. A form will be
available on the Housing Element Update website for applicants and members will be appointed to this ad‐ hoc group by
Council, with recommendations provided by staff in …”
⡈⡉⡊⡋⡌⡍⡎⡏Watch out for typos; Siri might be on duty.
3
Cyrah Caburian
From:Connie Cunningham <cunninghamconniel@gmail.com>
Sent:Monday, November 15, 2021 9:10 PM
To:City Council; City Clerk
Cc:Cunningham Connie
Subject:Housing Element Study Session NOV 16 CC, Agenda Item 1
Attachments:Attachment A-2.pdf
Follow Up Flag:Follow up
Flag Status:Completed
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the
sender and know the content is safe.
Housing Element Study Session NOV 16 CC, Agenda Item 1
Dear Mayor, Vice‐Mayor and Councilmembers:
I want to thank EMC for their Housing Element Update, with its focus on I. Sites Inventory and II. Community
Engagement. I have the following comments about issues that need to be addressed for each.
I. Sites Inventory: a) New locations, b) new building types
In regards to the two maps they included from the General Plan (see below), and the excerpt from the report that I have
copied in full text below, I have the following comments:
a. Although the map Figure PA‐1, Special Areas, LU‐40, is a good start for finding property owners who may want to
build homes on their property, I think that there are likely other areas that will be good for housing. For
example: McClellan Road between De Anza and Monta Vista has properties that would be nicely placed for below‐
market rate homes. This area is near schools, shopping and bus routes. Two properties that sold recently near the
corner of McClellan and Stelling would make excellent locations. I suggest that the city reach out to those new property
owners to encourage them to develop multi‐family homes, especially below‐market rate homes, on those properties.
b. Figure PA‐2, Neighborhoods, LU‐67 is a good map to show the various planning neighborhoods. AS LU‐67 is currently
worded, it uses words that are often interpreted as being exclusionary. These words are “neighborhood” in conjunction
with "character.” Given the new goal of Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH), I would urge that the term
“character” in relationship to “neighborhood" be deleted, so that it is clear that Cupertino wants to become more
inclusive. Cupertino will become more inclusive by adding homes that are affordable to teachers, hospitality workers,
people facing serious health issues, people at risk due to low‐incomes in an expensive city, children of current residents
when they graduate from high school and college, and seniors who would like to downsize from their family
homes. Neighborhoods will continue to change, and, although change is hard, the City will maintain control of our
future by planning for these changes
We need to look beyond what our neighborhoods look like today, and envision what the city will look like in the
future. Condominiums and apartments buildings need to become more available. Since we have examples of nice
apartment buildings in our city now, it will be helpful to envision those types of buildings as we plan our next Housing
Element.
II. Community Engagement: a) Apple, b) unmet housing needs, c) traffic, d) Balancing Act Tool
4
a) In the education portion of the outreach to the community, it will be important to remind residents that when the
Apple Campus was completed within city limits a few years ago, this addition of the most powerful and rich tech
company — in the world — opened a new chapter in the ongoing life of our relatively small city. From orchards to
suburbs to a small city. Apple will continue to attract more technical workers to our city. Another 7 workers for each
technical worker will be attracted to work in our economy, too.
b.) Residents need to learn about the large, and growing, unmet housing needs of many residents.
i) A large number of people are low‐income because of the huge increase in housing prices here combined with slow‐
growing wages. This number includes teachers, government staff, hospitality workers, and children of residents when
they graduate from high school and college.
ii) ELI: Extremely‐low incomes residents, some of whom are Intellectually Developmentally Disabled (IDD), and some
who are identified in other vulnerable categories, whether from being unhoused due to high housing costs, or
housed/unhoused people who are suffering other financial, mental health, domestic abuse problems, among other
challenges.
iii) Seniors are not necessarily low‐income, but, also, need homes where they can downsize for their new
lifestyles. One third (1/3) of households have someone over the age of 60. Senior friendly, denser housing would
free up single family homes for families.
iv) Students at De Anza College struggle with the high cost of housing which distracts them from their studies and
fulfilling their, and our community's, hopes for their success. Many are unhoused and food insecure.
c) Traffic. Outreach must emphasize to residents that the former practice of workers in Cupertino commuting from
other communities is no longer practicable. Commutes that were 20 minutes have grown to an hour or more. Many
workers spend hours on the road each day. This is not sustainable. By increasing the number of homes in our
community, we will reduce traffic by having places for workers to live close to work. They will be able to walk or
bicycle. Denser housing will, also, reduce the number of vehicle miles traveled (VMT).
d) I look forward to learning more about the on‐line Balancing Act Tool that will be used to plan the site inventory. I,
also, look forward to being involved in the Housing Element process on the Housing Commission.
Sincerely,
Connie L. Cunningham
34 year resident
Chair, Housing Commission (self‐only)
Excerpt from EMC Report: The following two types of areas are shown on two separate maps (Attachment A.2). The
following types were chosen because together, they represent the entire City. Excerpts from the Cupertino General Plan
describes these two categories of land in specific ways:
SPECIAL AREAS (LU‐40)‐ Special Areas are located along major mixed‐use corridors and nodes that have access to a
variety of different forms of transportation. Future growth in Cupertino will be focused in these areas to manage growth
while minimizing traffic, greenhouse gas and health impacts on the community.
NEIGHBORHOODS (LU‐67)‐ The City has many neighborhoods, each with its own distinctive character and setting. These
neighborhoods play a vital role in supporting Cupertino’s great quality of life. Neighborhood goals and policies help
preserve and enhance the quality of life by protecting neighborhood character and improving walking and biking
connections to parks, schools and services. Neighborhoods typically offer a variety of housing choices to meet a
spectrum of community needs.
5
Cyrah Caburian
From:Connie Cunningham <cunninghamconniel@gmail.com>
Sent:Monday, November 15, 2021 5:23 PM
To:City Council; City Clerk
Cc:Kerri Heusler
Subject:Revised input: Housing Element Study Session NOV 16 CC Agenda Item 1
Follow Up Flag:Follow up
Flag Status:Completed
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the
sender and know the content is safe.
Dear Mayor, Vice‐Mayor and Councilmembers:
Another category that needs a seat on the Stakeholder Focus Group are seniors. They want housing they can downsize
into. Given that 1/3 of households have someone over the age of 60, that’s a pretty sizable population that needs
housing more suitable to their needs. 91% of the city is zoned SFR (Single‐Family), so senior friendly, denser housing
would free up larger single family homes for families. I have added this below for ease of reference.
Eleven (11) representatives would not be too much for a Focus Group, and all groups need to be included.
Sincerely, Connie Cunningham
_______________________________________________________
Dear Mayor, Vice‐Mayor and Councilmembers:
Subject: Stakeholder Focus Group, Housing Element process
The Housing Element report by EMC for Nov 16 includes the idea for a stakeholder focus group to be assigned by the
City Council. It includes 7 categories as possible stake holders, although 10 is the estimated number in the group. I urge
the Council to include 3 4 more categories: a person with lived unhoused experience, a non‐profit home builder and a
student from De Anza College and a representative for seniors.
The first category would include someone that has not been included in the past, but more recently has been
included—Santa Clara County and organizations that help the unhoused, now realize that the opinion of people with
unhoused experience can inform our understanding of what they need and how to provide housing.
In the second category, non‐profit homebuilders have different challenges than for‐profit homebuilders, so their voice
would add much to the conversation.
In the third category would be a person (currently a student) who already has been facing the tough housing market as a
high school graduate, and will be looking ahead to their prospects after college.
The fourth category that needs a seat on the Stakeholder Focus Group are seniors. They want housing they can
downsize into. Given that 1/3 of households have someone over the age of 60, that’s a pretty sizable population that
needs housing more suitable to their needs. 91% of the city is zoned SFR (Single‐Family), so senior friendly, denser
housing would free up larger single family homes for families.
6
Eleven (11) representatives would not be too much for a Focus Group, and all groups need to be included.
I urge you to enrich our discussion with the stakeholders focus group by adding these three four categories to the focus
group.
Sincerely,Connie L Cunningham
Chair, Housing Commission (self‐only)
Excerpt from the report: “Stakeholder Meetings: We anticipate a total of three stakeholder focus group meetings.
Stakeholder groups are made up of individuals with interest in a process or project. We are looking for direction from
City Council regarding the makeup of the stakeholder group and selection process, and we request that Council share
guidance on criteria for no more than 10 members. A well‐rounded stakeholder group could include property owners,
renters, block group leaders, developers, business owners, local employees, and service providers. A form will be
available on the Housing Element Update website for applicants and members will be appointed to this ad‐ hoc group by
Council, with recommendations provided by staff in …”
⡈⡉⡊⡋⡌⡍⡎⡏Watch out for typos; Siri might be on duty.