https://n2v.almanacnews.com/square/print/2016/07/19/menlo-park-housing-commission-calls-for-more-affordable-housing


Town Square

Menlo Park Housing Commission calls for more affordable housing

Original post made on Jul 20, 2016

As Menlo Park updates its general plan, the city's Housing Commission intends to push the City Council to get built as many "below market rate" housing units as possible.

Read the full story here Web Link posted Tuesday, July 19, 2016, 6:48 PM

Comments

Posted by observer
a resident of another community
on Jul 20, 2016 at 12:23 pm

I am meeting a lot of people in the last few weeks who have been forced to move from their apartments in Menlo Park because the landlords are doubling and even tripling the rent. Facebook employees are given an monetary incentive to move close to their jobs, so the Facebook employees can afford it. This is becoming a nightmare to decent people. If the communities care about their current, law-abiding citizens, they need to get rent-control laws in place.


Posted by supply and demand
a resident of Menlo Park: Allied Arts/Stanford Park
on Jul 23, 2016 at 11:36 am

The problem is an issue of supply and demand. Councils, including Menlo Park's, are approving lots of office growth without insisting on commensurate growth of housing at all price levels. This is Economics 101.

If it were more attractive to build housing than to build offices, the market would correct itself over time. One way to make it more attractive to build housing is to make it less attractive to build so much office, such as by charging commercial developers more for housing impacts.

Councils can correct things more quickly but negotiating projects that provide a balance of new workers and new homes.

They could do these things, and more, but don't.




Posted by See what happens in Mtn. View
a resident of another community
on Jul 23, 2016 at 12:20 pm

Affordable housing is a tiny bandaid for a huge wound. The lifeblood of the community to leaving the body. Most current renters will be forced out within 2 years without some form of rent increase limitation. City Councilmembers were screened by landlord groups as candidates. They will express concern but do nothing. In Mountain View, folks have resorted to an initiative measure. Landlords will spend millions of dollars to defeat it. See what happens.