• Give Monthly to Housing Choices—for a Long-Term Impact
• Cupertino City Council Authorizes RFP for Inclusive Housing on City-Owned Land
• Jefferson Union High School District Proposes Inclusive Housing in Daly City
• 2330 Monroe Street in Santa Clara Receives Final Approval Before Ground Breaking
• California Extends Protection from Eviction for Tenants Affected by COVID
• Congratulations to Housing Choices’ Newest Senior Housing Coordinators!
• Thank you, Palo Alto Community Fund

Are you excited about the impact Housing Choices is having on our community? You can increase that impact by becoming a regular monthly donor. We’ve made it easy for you to give to us on a monthly basis because we know it may be easier for you to budget than a single year-end donation.

Your regular monthly donation will enhance Housing Choices’s ability to plan our spending and manage our services and programs. “We’re excited to offer this tool to our donors. With fixed reimbursement rates and rising operating costs, our regular donors have become increasingly critical to the success of our work and our ability to pay our staff a living wage,” explained Housing Choices’ Executive Director Jan Stokley.

Click below to become a regular monthly donor to Housing Choices and make sure to choose the "Monthly" option!

After years of identifying inclusive housing for people with developmental disabilities as a priority on the city work plan, the Cupertino City Council on March 15, 2022 voted unanimously to direct staff to issue a Request for Proposals for a 100% affordable housing development on a city parcel on Mary Avenue with a percentage of the units subject to a preference for Extremely Low Income people with developmental disabilities who will benefit from coordinated onsite housing support services provided by Housing Choices. 

The proposed site was identified by the Cupertino Rotary for inclusive housing after a newly elected City Council in November of 2019 overturned the city’s developer agreement with Sand Hill Property Company for the redevelopment of the Vallco Shopping Center site—a plan which would have included 40 units of Extremely Low Income housing for people with developmental disabilities. The Cupertino Rotary saw that inclusive housing for Cupertino residents for developmental disabilities was one type of affordable housing that seemed to have the potential to unite Cupertino’s divided community. The Rotary sought input from Housing Choices on a plan to assemble a parcel at the Mary Avenue site, developed some preliminary drawings, and convinced the city to take the necessary steps to investigate and assemble the parcel, leading up to the Request for Proposals. 

As part of a master plan to redevelop the 22-acre site of the former Serramonte Del Rey High School, the Jefferson Union High School District has proposed to include a 100% affordable housing project with some units subject to a preference for people with developmental disabilities who will benefit from the coordinated onsite services offered by Housing Choices and the Golden Gate Regional Center. 

The draft Precise Plan for the site envisions the development of 1,235 units of affordable and market rate housing, including 122 units of housing for faculty and staff of the High School District that are nearing completion of construction. The remaining 1,113 housing units will include at least 111 units on a parcel dedicated to inclusive affordable housing and a Head Start center. The development is phased to be completed over a ten year period.

After several years of competing for state, federal and local housing funds, including $4 million from Santa Clara County’s housing finance program for inclusive housing for people with developmental disabilities, developer Freebird Development returned to the City of Santa Clara Planning Department in March for final approval of its Inclusive Workforce Housing project at 2330 Monroe Street in Santa Clara. The 100% affordable housing project along San Tomas Expressway includes 65 rental units with 25% of the units subject to a preference for Extremely Low-Income people with developmental disabilities who will benefit from coordinated onsite services provided by Housing Choices. 

Self-advocate Darcy McCann, a long-time resident of Housing Choices’ Partner Property Estancia Apartments, spoke in support of the project, describing the role that affordable housing had played in empowering her to complete her Bachelors degree and begin a graduate program in psychology. “I have so many peers who want to live independently but can’t secure an affordable home,” she explained. “I appreciate the City’s commitment to create housing that includes its residents with developmental disabilities.”

Planning for the city-owned parcel at 2330 Monroe Street began in 2017 with an extensive community visioning project, leading to a competitive request for proposals which developer Freebird Development won in 2018 with its proposal for Inclusive Workforce Housing. 

California has extended until June 30, 2022, the protection from eviction afforded tenants affected by COVID as long as they have applied for state and local rent relief by March 31, 2022.

Housing Choices helped 92 households affected by COVID to secure rent relief and avoid eviction between July 1, 2021 and December 31, 2021. As part of Santa Clara County’s Homelessness Prevention System, Housing Choices has continued in 2022 to help families apply for the state Emergency Rental Assistance Program and for local assistance. 

Housing Choices recently promoted seven promising staff to the position of Senior Coordinators. Led by Program Services Director Dennise Jauregui, the group will engage in a program of management skills training and leadership development designed to increase their impact on Housing Choices’ mission and prepare them for new roles in the organization. “I am grateful for the many opportunities Housing Choices has given me to grow with the organization,” said Dennise Jauregui who herself joined the organization in 2013 as a Housing Coordinator. “I am thrilled to now have the chance to “pay it forward” with this talented group of staff who have so much to offer our community.”

Lena joined Housing Choice as an Accounting Assistant in 2020 after earning her B.S in Accounting from San Jose State University. An immigrant from Vietnam, Lena understands the struggles of families whose housing is insecure. She is proud to provide the financial systems and processes that enable the Housing Choices program team to help families and adults with disabilities secure a better future for themselves. As a Senior Accounting Assistant, Lena will assume more responsibility for financial monitoring of specific programs to ensure their continued viability. 

Cathy joined Housing Choices in 2015 as a Resident Coordinator at our Partner Properties and later became a Housing Coordinator in our San Jose office where she is a wealth of knowledge and experience for colleagues and our newer employees. As a Senior Housing Coordinator, Cathy is focused on learning new program management and skills to continue growing and supporting the people we serve. 

Kalisha joined Housing Choices a few short months before the pandemic as one of our first Housing Coordinators in San Mateo County.  She went on to apply her hands-on knowledge of affordable housing to inclusive housing organizing and advocacy with support from the Executive Director, Jan Stokley.  Kalisha’s promotion to Senior Housing Advocate positions her to provide community leadership on disability-inclusive Housing Elements, the financing of extremely low income housing that includes people with disabilities, and the intersection of race, disability and housing access. 

Juan joined Housing Choices in 2015 as one of only four staff in our Watsonville office.  As our Watsonville team grew to the current number of 20, Juan was instrumental in importing our Santa Clara County Housing First program for homeless with developmental disabilities to Santa Cruz County, forging valuable connections with the Santa Cruz County Continuum of Care. As a Senior Coordinator, Juan is focused on learning new program management and people development skills. His passion is helping new staff become confident in their roles and become connected to community resources.

Jorge joined Housing Choices in May of 2017 to support residents at two of our Mountain View Partner Properties, 1585 Studios and San Antonio Place.  During his tenure as the Resident Coordinator for those two properties, Jorge obtained a Master’s degree in Family Dynamics.   As Senior Resident Coordinator, Jorge seeks to build his program management skills and expand his colleagues' understanding of the interpersonal processes inherent in working with individuals with disabilities, while helping Housing Choices recruit and retain more Resident Coordinators to serve our growing number of new Partner Properties.

Lucero joined the Watsonville office of Housing Choices in 2018 with a focus on serving Monterey County families, many of whom are Spanish-speaking. Since then, she has enjoyed helping newly hired Housing Coordinators learn the secrets of her success as a Housing Coordinator.  As a Senior Coordinator, Lucero seeks to develop program management and people development skills that will increase her leadership role at Housing Choices. 

Thinh joined Housing Choices in 2019 as a bi-lingual Vietnamese-speaking Housing Coordinator in our San Jose office.  Since then, Thinh has completed his Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and is eager to apply his management training to the challenges facing Housing Choices as an organization. Thinh’s greatest satisfaction has been helping families secure a stable home, and he is committed to increasing the effectiveness of the organization at all levels towards this ultimate goal. 

Housing Choices’ was recently awarded a generous grant of $10,000 by the Palo Alto Community Fund to support housing services and advocacy on behalf of Palo Alto, East Palo Alto, and Menlo Park residents with developmental disabilities. In thanking PACF, Executive Director Jan Stokley applauded the foundation’s important role in linking donors to small, community-based nonprofits like Housing Choices with whom donors might otherwise not be acquainted. “We’re making great strides in increasing inclusive housing in the three communities targeted by the Foundation, and this grant will help us build on that work.” 

We hope you will support inclusive, affordable housing for people with developmental disabilities, now and in the years to come.