The Cupertino Courier

Letters & Opinions

Local governments must match housing

By SHILOH BALLARD

Earlier this year, a group of Cupertino residents collected enough signatures to, once again, put the issue of residential growth before Cupertino voters. This time, with Measures D and E, Cupertino voters will choose whether to rescind two council-approved developments for homes near Vallco shopping center.

It feels like the 2005 initiatives to block housing all over again.

This time, the argument against housing is focused on the need to preserve land for commercial uses. It's a very good question to ask: How much land should be preserved for future job growth?

Santa Clara County office vacancy rates are still over 15 percent, representing 48 million square feet of empty office space. Additionally, a quick drive along our major highways reveals acres and acres of vacant and underutilized land, ripe for the development of jobs. The more important question for families is, do we have enough land for homes?

State law requires cities to outline in their General Plan where needed homes could be built. Despite this law, since 1999, Cupertino has met only 45 percent of its need for homes. Cupertino has also historically had a high jobs/housing imbalance. According to Santa Clara County Planning Department projections, countywide there are 1.9 jobs for every home. In Cupertino, that figure is 2.4 to 1, well above the county average.

The bottom line: Cupertino smiles on growing its job base and frowns at the associated need for homes.

These numbers paint a picture about the choices we have made and are faced with in the future, choices that members of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group express through an annual survey of Silicon Valley chief executive officers. In that survey, we pose the question, "What are the top five business challenges in Silicon Valley?" Consistently, the No. 1 answer has been the high cost of housing for working families.

Housing affordability is directly related to recruitment and retention of the kind of talent needed to keep Silicon Valley competitive. Our competition has learned this lesson as well, watching our successes and missteps.

The Leadership Group recently released its annual projections report comparing similar high-technology regions from around the country. In housing, only 14.9 percent of Santa Clara County homes are affordable to families earning the median income, while other high-tech regions average around 50 percent. Santa Clara County is in last place on road and street quality and in education spending. These key indicators show that despite Silicon Valley's many assets, we are at risk of losing our edge on issues of importance to our workers.

The founder of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, David Packard of Hewlett-Packard, once said, "To remain static is to lose ground." A vote for Measures D and E supporting housing would help prevent us from losing ground in the struggle for prosperity, innovation, and healthy communities. Vote Yes on D & E.

Shiloh Ballard is the director of Housing and Community Development for the Silicon Valley Leadership Group.