Menlo Park #1 for costliest Bay Area apartment rents

It’s very disappointing to hear this, we have a full blown housing crisis. Menlo Park needs to do its part to alleviate this, either by subsidizing rents or building more affordable housing, something needs to be done and it needs to be done now. Many Facebook employees struggle to find rent or have long commutes of 2+ hours just to get to work

I'm less concerned with the FB jobs than nurses, for example. Having nurses commute in from Modesto or Tracy is ridiculous. Long shifts, long commutes, etc.. do not improve quality of care.

Next time you are visiting someone in a hospital or nursing facility, gently ask about where employees are living. You may be shocked. Then think how it degrades the level of care for your loved one.

This applies to a lot of important jobs like nursing and the healthcare field.

I suspect the average renter in Menlo Park is not "low income," so affordable housing will not help renters like me who make an average income but can no longer afford to live here. If I do stay, such a huge percentage of my pay check goes to my rent that not much is left over for savings.

My neighbor is an engineer, working at Stanford. One more rent increase and she will have to move.

I hear so much about "low income" housing. What about us middle income earners who rent? We don't qualify as "low income" but also provide invaluable services. How about some rent control for us?

As a patient, I've been attended by a few nurses who commute in from Antioch, Tracy, and Phoenix. They don't do it on a daily basis. The Tracy nurse works 3 days on, 3 days off. She stays here with another nurse who has an extra BR/bath. Antioch works 4 days, 3 days off - also stays with a co-worker here. Phoenix works 5 days on, 5 off & stays here at Executive Suites. She's an OR nurse who loves her schedule.
Firemen do a similar thing. 4 on 4 off, sleeping at the station house while on duty, then back home to wherever.
They are not to be pitied. The salaries here are so much higher than "home" that the commuters do it because they want to.

Disappointed -- Absolutely Menlo Park needs to do more, especially before allowing more office development. The two Council subcommittees working on the problem would welcome constructive ideas. You can write the entire Council, and senior staff, at city.council@menlopark.org

MP's "welcome mat" to large development projects, and especially to Facebook's expansion in one small area of our City, has resulted in serious impacts to our neighbors. It's even worse for those living in MP's District 1.

Facebook could also decide to do its part by pulling the plug on Willows Village. I would like Facebook to sell MP the land for what it originally paid. This would generate enormous goodwill. MP could turn the property into a beautiful park with housing. After all, MP has been extremely accommodating to Facebook.

However, I also call on Portola Valley to consider ways you could help. For example, Stanford's proposed new housing project, on land it owns in Portola Valley, is an opportunity for Portola Valley to work with Stanford to decrease the size (2,200 sq. ft) of the proposed homes, to increase the number (currently 29) on the 6-acre segment of Stanford's property.

The fact that almost all new housing in the past decade is luxury housing was allowed, even encouraged by your elected officials. Go talk to them.

Did anyone read the article? Here, let me help point something out:

"RENTCafe.com analyzes rent prices at large-scale multifamily properties of 50 or more...Fully affordable properties are not included"


Translation:
"If you take away low-cost housing, Menlo Park's expensive housing is expensive."

OK, thanks for letting us know!

The reason rents and purchase prices are so high is because there is more demand than supply. Until Menlo Park wakes up to its role in increasing the housing by adding jobs, jobs, jobs, then the vicious cycle of more jobs, more demand for housing will never stop. Some affordable and market priced housing units will help but the demand is increasing far faster than the supply.
Two councilmembers were brave enough to propose a halt to development so the city could figure this out. When will at least one more join them to impose common sense restraints on the jobs growth until housing and support infrastructure can catch up to what is already here?