Read the full story here Web Link posted Saturday, January 26, 2019, 9:20 AM
https://n2v.almanacnews.com/square/print/2019/01/26/guest-opinion-lets-step-up-affordable-housing-funding
Town Square
Guest opinion: Let's step up affordable housing funding
Original post made on Jan 26, 2019
Read the full story here Web Link posted Saturday, January 26, 2019, 9:20 AM
Comments
a resident of Portola Valley: Central Portola Valley
on Jan 26, 2019 at 4:00 pm
When we say affordable housing we really mean subsidized housing. The various tax rates alone in CA have made living here unaffordable for all but the wealthiest people. By the time you get to the cost of housing most people have already been “priced” out by taxes, cost of food, transportation, healthcare, etc.
a resident of Menlo Park: The Willows
on Jan 26, 2019 at 6:22 pm
Amen. I can't believe we live in a place with such wealth and still have homelessness.
a resident of Portola Valley: other
on Jan 26, 2019 at 8:42 pm
And while building more subsidized homes will incrementally help some individuals, the only real way to break the cycle of homelessness is to reduce the tax burden on the lower to middle class. Sales taxes, gas taxes etc all place the burden on those who already can not afford to live here. Same with property tax for those trying to buy their first home. Unfortunately it looks like CA politicians just want to add to this burden rather than clean up government wasteful spending. Corporations should pay their fair share but it seems the more we tax them they just shift that burden to the middle class.
a resident of Menlo Park: The Willows
on Jan 27, 2019 at 1:26 pm
Why is it that I never see discussion and solutions to address the demand side of this equation? What we have is more legitimately termed an overpopulation crisis than a housing crisis.
a resident of Menlo Park: Downtown
on Jan 27, 2019 at 4:02 pm
Sure we can build more housing, subsidize housing, etc. etc., BUT is there infrastructure to support all these new people? Not really -- more people means more traffic, more kids in schools, more people using everything.
Most of the utilities that were built years ago cannot accommodate all the people. The state is caught in a Catch 22 -- let's bring in more people, but the infrastructure isn't there to support them so we'll just increase everybody's taxes. But wait we're supposed to be giving the lower and middle classes a break so we'll just tax the rich. What is the state going to do when they move out of state. Then we'll tax the big companies.....and so on.
"Zero" got it right -- we have an overpopulation problem
a resident of Menlo Park: other
on Jan 27, 2019 at 6:25 pm
Some commenters think we can't handle any growth? Menlo Park boomed from 3,258 people in 1940 to 13,587 in 1950, a 317% increase! Then by 1960, population was 26,957, a 98.4% jump from the previous decade. Infrastructure has always come in fits and starts, so don't act like new development has to build a citywide maglev monorail before it gets built.
If we can pave over orchards 50 years ago for your ranch house that's now worth multi-millions, I think we can build some apartments near bus & train stops. "I got here first" is not an OK response if you benefited from past unrestrained growth.
a resident of Atherton: other
on Jan 28, 2019 at 2:44 pm
What did you think would happen when you allow Facebook and the new offices in Bohannon Park to increase their footprint? Did you think the offices would go unoccupied? No more subsidies from the taxpayers for affordable house. Assess the companies adding more than 10,000 sq feet of office space to pay for the housing.
a resident of Atherton: West Atherton
on Jan 28, 2019 at 5:40 pm
Working on measures to solve high-priced housing issues is working at the wrong end of the problem. The root cause of these issues are Peninsula City Councils who have declared open season on development and have bent over backwards to get business to dramatically add more new commercial space. Unless this is reversed and we make it more painful to businesses to come here or grow here, then all of the money and measures aimed to fix housing is money and effort down the drain.