Housing shortage, and the high cost of housing, is a common regional planning conundrum. And it seems our cities are are not stepping-up fast enough to accommodate population growth. Not there, and not here.
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| Charming downtown area in Mountain View |
With the likes of Google and LinkedIn filling dozens of buildings near Highway 101, Mountain View can lay claim to having some of America's most innovative addresses. But when it comes to mapping a future with housing options for the talented people
who work within its boundaries, the South Bay city of 75,000 is stuck in the past.
During
the next 15 years, Mountain View's plans allow fewer than 8,000 housing
units to be added within its city limits. Within the same time frame,
more than 20,000 new jobs are expected to be created - an imbalance
that's sure to exacerbate the strains on a community where monthly rents
on the newest one-bedroom apartments start at $3,400. Read Article.
Note: photograph of Castro Street, Mountain View by Sara Maddox from Traveling worm blog.
Posted by Kathy Meeh
8 comments:
What would they do with all that housing when the tech-bubble bursts again? You know it will. Maybe they'd rather protect the property values of what's already there and just add a little at a time.
627 SF has added over 20,000 units in the last few years and their home prices are still skyrocketing. Sure there will be another bubble. And there will be another boom. No excuse not to add housing when the population has increased so much.
Hutch
Have you brought this to the attention of City Council. At the City Council meetings?
Mountain View is not SF. It has to pay its own bills. Unlike SF it has no economic diversity to absorb the cyclical downturns. Basing a big change in infrastructure and fundamentals, like housing stock, on a surge in your city's one and only industry is risky. Mountain View's other source of revenue is being a bedroom community for other tech-heavy towns. I think they know about boom and bust economies. Better they should take the slow and steady approach to adding housing and the expensive infrastructure it requires.
If Google should pull up stakes and leave town, Mountain View would pretty much be financially devestated.
Mountain View has a ton of high-tech companies.
It's a high-tech town with companies of all sizes and it'll be fine til the next tech-tumble. And then it'll start all over again.
9:00
The talent is right where Google is located. Just like all the bio-tech in SSF.
Considering SSF used to be the meat packing area it has come a long way.
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