Rents reduced up to 24% in Mountain View teacher housing project

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After months of struggling to find enough tenants to fill its subsidized staff housing complex, the Mountain View Whisman School District is lowering rents by up to $700 per month starting in the new year.

The decision comes after the district bought the land beneath the apartment building this summer, eliminating ground lease payments, and then sold off a portion of its units to the Foothill-De Anza Community College District, providing the cash to offset the cost of the land purchase.

Taken together, the moves reduced the district’s ongoing expenses to operate the complex, making it possible to offer the apartments at cheaper rates. Late last month, the nonprofit entity that the school district recently established to oversee the housing development, called the Mountain View Whisman Residences Corporation, voted to lower rents by up to 24%.

“We want [the project] to be affordable,” Stephanie Shipe, the president of the corporation, told the Voice. “We want it to be leased up and hitting the targets.”

The decreased rents will only apply to tenants in units set aside for those earning up to 150% of the area median income. The 144 apartments in the complex are split into two income categories, with roughly a quarter set aside for those earning up to 80% AMI and the rest available to those making up to 150% AMI.

According to Shipe, rents haven’t been lowered for employees making up to 80% AMI because those rates were already affordable and the units filled up quickly. 

In contrast, the school district has faced particular difficulties filling the 150% AMI units, which have been significantly more expensive than the 80% AMI units. Up until this point, a one-bedroom at the 150% AMI tier has cost $2,900 per month, which was double the $1,450 that an 80% AMI tenant would pay.

With the rent reductions that the corporation recently approved, that gap will shrink. At the 150% AMI tier: 

• A studio apartment will decrease 22.9%, from $2,400 to $1,850 a month
• A one-bedroom will decrease 24.1%, from $2,900 to $2,200 a month
• A two-bedroom will decrease 14.7%, from $3,400 to $2,900 a month

At the 80% AMI tier:

• A studio apartment will remain $1,350 a month
• A one-bedroom will increase from $1,450 to $1,550 a month
• A two-bedroom will remain $2,150 a month

The district hopes the lower rents will make it easier to fill the 150% AMI units, Shipe said. Currently, roughly two-thirds of the 80% AMI units are rented, compared to only about a third of the 150% AMI units, according to data provided by district spokesperson Shelly Hausman. 

Currently, a family of four can earn up to $159,550 per year and qualify at the 80% AMI tier, or up to $292,800 at the 150% AMI tier, according to the school district’s website. For a single person, those caps are $111,700 and $204,975, respectively.

Working to make lower rents possible

The approval of lower rental rates came days after the district received the funds from its sale of 50 units to Foothill De-Anza. The money gained from this arrangement offset the $53.5 million cost of the land beneath the project, which Mountain View Whisman purchased earlier this year to avoid having to pay $1.9 million in annual ground lease payments, which would increase 2-4% per year based on inflation. 

“The sale of the units to Foothill-De Anza allows us to still serve the mission of serving employees that are working in the area within the education field and has allowed us to expand the demand for those units,” Shipe said. “That is going to help us fill up some of these units with the personnel that we were hoping for.”

Mountain View Whisman now retains access to 73 units for its own teachers and other staff. Another 20 apartments were already set aside for the city of Mountain View’s employees and one unit is reserved for a property manager.

Tenants began moving in this spring. Currently, 52 of Mountain View Whisman’s units are rented, along with six of the city’s, Hausman said. Foothill-De Anza is just starting the lease-up process now. The corporation’s new goal is to be fully leased up by June 2026, Shipe said. 

Over the last several years, there has been a push from some local school districts to offer affordable staff apartments to attract and retain teachers in an especially expensive housing market, leading the Mountain View Whisman school board to approve an agreement to build educator housing in March 2019. Construction on the project finished in late 2024.  

Employees from Mountain View Whisman, Foothill-De Anza and the city can submit applications for housing until Dec. 19 to be among the first group considered for the new leasing period, Hausman said. Applications will still be accepted after this date but will be reviewed for future leasing periods should apartments remain available. Starting on Jan. 1, 2026, the new rental rates will apply to all residents, including those who already live in the complex.

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