Written by Loghann Bellamy, Housing Justice Intern, 2025
This summer, I had the privilege of working as a Housing Justice Intern at SV@Home and worked closely with SV@Home’s Policy Director, Alison Cingolani, on a capstone project investigating how housing affordability impacts elementary school enrollment in public, private, and charter schools across Santa Clara County. I deeply enjoyed getting to know each staff member, they all were incredibly loving, helpful, and caring of my success.
This summer, I had the privilege of working as a Housing Justice Intern at SV@Home. I deeply enjoyed getting to know each staff member, they all were incredibly loving, helpful, and caring of my success. I really got to learn how housing is the foundation for the health of any community. Without it, everything else declines, such as the local economy and the quality of life for everyone. Because of this internship, I leveled-up my skills in using excel spreadsheets, writing, and networking/relationship building.
Throughout my nine weeks here, I worked closely with SV@Home’s Policy Director, Alison Cingolani, on a capstone project investigating how housing affordability impacts elementary school enrollment in public, private, and charter schools across Santa Clara County. We found that the rising cost of living for families with young children in the South Bay has led to over 20 schools closing, including three large charter schools just in San Jose. It’s clear that Silicon Valley is increasingly becoming a difficult place for families with grade school children to call home (Figure 1).
Figure 1 Enrollment patterns across all Santa Clara County elementary schools from 2014 to 2025.
Three years ago, SV@Home embarked on this analysis with the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, community partner Palo Alto Forward, and the Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy and found similar trends of what we’re seeing today. The study was used as an advocacy position to address housing needs across Santa Clara County jurisdictions in the 2023-2031Housing Element planning process. It was only natural to update this research so we can expand public understanding of this concern and make some significant decisions to address it.
In Santa Clara County alone, school districts have dropped a total of 23% from 2014 to 2025 in enrollment, with some districts reaching just under a 50% decline. Additionally, school districts like Alum Rock and Franklin-Mckinley are due to see a more drastic decline, which adds insult to injury given several schools have already closed in these districts at the end of this last school year. While these districts have historically been disenfranchised and underfunded, affluent neighborhoods such as Cupertino and Palo Alto have also seen a significant decline, both at nearly a 45% decrease.
Figure 2: Percent change in enrollment by school district in Santa Clara County.
These school closures leave surplus, unused land for school districts experiencing financial challenges. School districts are unclear on what to do with these lands as they are wrestling with their continued financial deficits. Although the situation is grim, we know the solution is to build more affordable housing. Surplus land can give us that in a poetic kind of way. Therefore, we recommend that school boards and local governments invest in development that includes affordable housing on surplus land, so that more families can afford to stay in Silicon Valley.
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