Written By: The Board of the Milpitas nonprofit “Hope for the Unhoused”, Inc
In a city defined by massive tech corridors, bustling retail centers, and soaring Silicon Valley real estate values, it is remarkably easy for local prosperity to mask local pain. While luxury apartments and new storefronts continue to reshape our landscape, thousands of our neighbors right here in Milpitas are quietly struggling to secure their next meal.
At the center of our community’s safety net sits the Milpitas Food Pantry, located at 1440 S. Main Street. Tucked behind the commercial storefronts of South Main, this pantry provides a vital lifeline of fresh groceries and emergency supplies for low-income families, seniors, and the unhoused who live in our neighborhoods. Yet, as commercial real estate rates skyrocket across Santa Clara County, an invisible threat looms over our city’s essential nonprofits: the unsustainable burden of market-rate rent.
This threat is real; it is the topic of a policy discussion taking place right now in City Hall. At the May 5 Milpitas City Council meeting, our mayor and council asked city staff to explore changing the rent for the Milpitas Food Pantry from a nominal $1.21 a month to full market rate, which would be nearly $5,000 a month. Forcing a vital public service like the Milpitas Food Pantry to compete for square footage on the open market is not just bad economics; it is a profound civic failure. Supporting below-market leases ensures the pantry can allocate more funds directly to food supplies and services, strengthening our community’s safety net.
The financial math of market-rate real estate works well for tech firms or retail chains, which can offset rising operational costs by raising prices or expanding sales volume. But for a non-profit food bank, that economic model is completely broken. The pantry’s “clients”—who are our neighbors, classmates, and coworkers—pay nothing, and its operating budget relies entirely on grants and community donations. This dynamic is further strained by recent federal and state cuts due to HR-1, with an estimated 55,000 Santa Clara County residents losing all of their CalFresh assistance, sending a wave of new families to food distribution lines like our Milpitas Food Pantry.
When a community lifeline is forced to allocate an ever-larger share of its limited donation pool to keep the lights on and satisfy commercial rental rates, the math breaks down. Every extra dollar spent on leasing commercial space is a dollar directly stolen from buying fresh produce, stocking protein, maintaining industrial refrigerators, or staffing crucial distributions.
Furthermore, subsidizing or protecting the food pantry’s physical space actually saves Milpitas tax dollars. Food insecurity is directly tied to a cascade of costly civic challenges, including higher public healthcare costs, lower academic performance in local schools, and increased pressure on our municipal emergency response systems. If the Milpitas Pantry disappears, there is a very real, dangerous chance that our unhoused population will increase. For many families on the brink, the food pantry is the buffer that keeps them housed; when a family doesn’t have to choose between buying groceries and paying rent, they can stay in their homes. By investing in affordable leasing now, we prevent these future expenses and ensure our community remains resilient and healthy. If the pantry were squeezed out of South Main Street due to commercial rent hikes, our city would inevitably inherit the catastrophic social and financial fallout.
Preventing this requires immediate civic imagination and proactive local governance from our elected leaders. We must stop viewing essential nonprofits as standard commercial tenants. Instead of exploring ways to hike the pantry’s rent, our City Council should explore offering local property tax credits to commercial landlords who lease property to registered, vital safety-net nonprofits at deeply discounted, below-market rates. Additionally, establishing city-funded lease subsidies or dedicated community spaces can make this a practical reality, ensuring organizations like the food pantry remain accessible and sustainable.
The Milpitas Food Pantry exists precisely because the traditional market economy has left some of our hardest-working residents behind. Charging this institution market-rate pricing to fix a market-driven crisis is counterproductive. As residents, we look to our leadership to protect the vulnerable, not add to their burdens. To preserve the health, safety, and moral fabric of Milpitas, we must ensure that our community’s primary defense against hunger always has an affordable place to stand.
Take Action Now:
Our city leaders need to hear from the community before a final decision is made. As a Milpitas resident, you can make your voice heard by emailing the Mayor and City Council or by attending the next City Council meeting at City Hall to speak during public comment. Let them know that protecting the Milpitas Food Pantry means protecting the stability of our entire community.
Thank you Hope for the Unhoused for your support! Milpitas would be a better community if the City itself supported you and the Milpitas Food Pantry instead of hassling us.
Where do you think they’d get the money to pay market rate? I think Milpitians are generous and want to help the hungry, not take one of their food sources away from them.