Cupertino seniors jump into affordable housing lottery

Cupertino’s latest mixed-use, affordable housing project is almost ready to open its doors.

The Westport Senior Apartments will add 267 homes to Cupertino’s inventory. The development, on roughly eight acres at 21267 Stevens Creek  Blvd., will be a mix of 48 below-market-rate apartments and 131 market-rate apartments for residents 62 and older and 88 townhomes and row houses. Residents will start moving in in early March.

Idaho-based Pacific Companies developed the project, which will be managed by Buckingham Property Management. It will also include 20,000 square feet of retail space on the ground floor.

Older adults applying for the affordable apartments will be selected via a lottery conducted by the city and property management, which ends Feb. 16 at midnight. Jennie Reed, regional director for the property manager, said the development has already received 137 entries into the lottery for the affordable apartments.

Reed said the development’s mix of affordable housing and market-rate housing will appeal to the community’s needs.

“That’s really the goal, is to provide the amenities and the facilities for people that couldn’t otherwise qualify to find safe and affordable housing,” she told San José Spotlight.

The apartments range in rent from $889 to $2,026 a month for a studio, $968 to $2,172 for a one-bedroom and $1,129 to $2,534 for a two-bedroom.

Amenities on-site include a community room with a kitchen, 27 assisted living memory care rooms and bike parking.

The development follows a rising trend of senior housing insecurity and homelessness in Santa Clara County. The county’s biennial tally counted more than 9,900 unhoused people last year and that same count found 40% of unhoused people in 2022 were 51 and older.

Neighboring cities are trying to address the problem. Last month, nonprofit People Assisting the Homeless held its grand opening for PATH Villas at 4th Street, a development housing 93 formerly homeless seniors aged 55 and up.

Marvel Ang, director of development for nonprofit Charities Housing, said the need for more affordable senior housing is great, since they’re on a fixed income. He helped develop The Veranda, a development that includes 19 affordable homes for seniors.

“I’m really happy to see that another affordable development (is) coming online to help alleviate that (high cost of living) pressure,” he told San José Spotlight.

Cupertino has faced opposition for new developments in the past. Last month, housing advocates won a judgment against the city for failing to file its affordable housing plans on time, which received pushback from residents and councilmembers against more development. The average income in Cupertino is more than $223,600, according to 2022 U.S. Census data.

Deputy City Manager Tina Kapoor said despite some residents’ hesitancy toward new developments, projects such as Westport Senior Apartments are vitally needed to support the senior population.

“The safety and security to be able to stay around where they have put down roots, family members that might be here and the socialization that comes with the community that they’ve built, all of that is really important,” Kapoor told San José Spotlight.

Buckingham Property Management will host a table with more information about the property at the Cupertino Senior Center on Feb. 7 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Interested applicants can apply online.

Contact Annalise Freimarck at [email protected] or follow @annalise_ellen on X, formerly known as Twitter.