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Resident urges Cupertino to protect renters after Foothill–De Anza CCD's proposed purchase of McCallum Terrace
Summary
A longtime resident asked the planning commission to protect low-rent households after news that the Foothill-De Anza Community College District plans to acquire the 94-unit McCallum Terrace Apartments; the speaker raised concerns about displacement and cited California renter protections under AB 1482.
Rhoda Frey told the Cupertino Planning Commission on June 24 that the proposed purchase of the McCallum Terrace Apartments on McCallum Road — a 94-unit property — by the Foothill–De Anza Community College District risked displacing lower-rent households in the city.
Frey said the complex offers some of the lowest rents in Cupertino and that a district purchase could expose tenants to significant rent increases. She referenced California Assembly Bill 1482 and asked how the district might rely on a buyer’s ability to displace tenants. She told commissioners, “it is pretty much the lowest rent... that's available in Cupertino,” and called the prospective displacement “wrong,” adding, “I'm begging you to please protect our residents.”
Frey said Prometheus, the current owner, has properties elsewhere and that buyers sometimes justify turnover by saying units are not “affordable housing” under state rules even though the units are comparatively low-cost. She argued the district should honor existing leases and asked city officials to consider policies to protect tenants in this and similar transactions.
Her remarks were delivered during the meeting’s oral-communications segment; no action on the McCallum Terrace property was on the planning commission’s agenda that evening.
The commission received the comment for the record; any legal or contractual authority for a college-district acquisition and how it intersects with tenant protections would be determined by state law and the parties involved, not by the commission at this meeting.
