One of the first 100% affordable housing developments in Cupertino poised to serve some of the community’s most vulnerable residents is drawing backlash from the surrounding neighborhood.
A local grassroots effort with more than 450 online signatures wants to stop a 40-home affordable development along Mary Avenue. The project proposes a first-of-its-kind housing mix of 19 homes for adults and families with children with intellectual and developmental disabilities and 20 homes for low-income residents. Those homes would eliminate 89 parking spaces and the multiple feet they take up near hundreds of apartments, townhomes and single-family homes, which residents said could create safety issues. Advocates disagree, saying the development is safe and necessary to provide homes for the 325 disabled residents in the city without many housing resources.
The project, proposed by affordable housing developer Charities Housing, doesn’t need City Council approval of its entitlements since it would be on a 0.79-acre site listed in Cupertino’s state-mandated housing plan. But it still needs councilmembers to approve legal documents because it’s on city-owned land. Development officials said the city hasn’t given a timeline for that, which has delayed construction originally planned for the end of next year…