Housing – Page 5 – Palo Alto Matters – Community voices for sustainable solutions

The big lie about California’s housing crisis

by paloaltomattersJuly 27, 2017December 19, 2017Leave a comment

San Francisco Examiner – Featured Opinion By Deepa Varma / July 27, 2017

It’s official: The rent in California, not just San Francisco, is too damn high.

California now has the highest poverty rate in the nation when the cost of housing is taken into account. Since 2005, more than 2.5 million Californians have been forced to leave the state in search of an affordable home.

Unfortunately, the prevailing supply and demand — “just build” — mantra put forward by opinion leaders is diverting state government from the hard truth that the market has not responded to the demand of California families for affordable homes — not luxury and market-rate homes….

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Foster City planners tackle in-law units

by paloaltomattersJuly 24, 2017August 29, 2017Leave a comment

The Daily Journal – by Samantha Weigel / Jul 24, 2017

Foster City is considering updates to its regulations on secondary units as it aims to comply with state mandates promoting the residences as a means to address the affordable housing crisis….

New affordable-housing project proposed in Ventura

by paloaltomattersJuly 21, 2017December 19, 2017Leave a comment

Palo Alto Weekly – by Gennady Sheyner / July 21, 2017

Palo Alto Housing hopes to bring 67 small apartments to an El Camino Real site

After meeting community opposition in its most recent bid to build an affordable-housing complex in its home town, the nonprofit Palo Alto Housing is hoping for a better reception — and outcome — for its new proposal: a 67-unit development on El Camino Real, in the Ventura neighborhood.

Dear YIMBYs: The brutal, unfettered market won’t stop displacement

by paloaltomattersJuly 20, 2017December 19, 2017Leave a comment

San Francisco Examiner – OpEd by Leslie Dreyer, Joseph Smooke and Sarah Sherburn-Zimmer / July 20, 2017

Your platform, which relies on the filtering theory, states, “Today’s new, expensive housing becomes tomorrow’s inexpensive housing.” This theory doesn’t hold true for San Francisco, nor likely any other city strangled by the current global speculative market. When the California Legislative Analyst’s Office misused UC Berkeley’s Urban Displacement Project data to advocate for the construction of market-rate housing as an anti-displacement tool, the researchers responded, in summary, by saying:

Producing tons of market-rate units to lower rents may take generations and may never actually work to relieve displacement pressures.
Subsidized units for low-income folks have more than twice the impact on reducing displacement pressures…

Facebook’s “Village” plan raises questions

by paloaltomattersJuly 17, 2017September 25, 2017Leave a comment

Palo Alto Daily Post – by Emily Mibach / July 12, 2017

Facebook’s proposal to develop a 59-acre business park on Willow Road in Menlo Park into a “Village” with homes, stores and 1.75 million square feet of office space doesn’t answer some major questions about housing and traffic.

Editorial: Facebook’s proposed ‘village’

by paloaltomattersJuly 14, 2017December 19, 2017Leave a comment

Palo Alto Weekly – by Palo Alto Weekly editorial board / July 14, 2017

Massive development proposal will only worsen housing, transportation problems

It’s hard to imagine a better example of how messed up our region’s planning processes and development policies are than Facebook’s latest proposal to build nine new office buildings totaling 1.75 million square feet, likely to be occupied by up to 10,000 new employees, while eventually constructing 1,500 rental apartment units.

Plan to add housing, retail on El Camino gets a boost

by paloaltomattersJuly 12, 2017December 19, 2017Leave a comment

Palo Alto Weekly – by Gennady Sheyner / July 12, 2017

Commission endorses The Sobrato Organization’s proposal for housing, retail in Ventura neighborhood

Palo Alto’s effort to chip away at what many in City Hall acknowledge to be a “housing crisis” advanced on Wednesday night, when the city’s Planning and Transportation Commission threw its support behind a plan to construct two buildings with 50 apartments at an El Camino Real site that until recently was occupied by Mike’s Bikes.

The plan from The Sobrato Organization calls for replacing the building and parking lot at 3001 El Camino Real with a four-story development with 19,800 square feet of retail and 30 apartments and a three-story building with 20 apartments.

Facebook unveils plans for giant new development in Menlo Park

by paloaltomattersJuly 10, 2017December 19, 2017Leave a comment

The Almanac – by Kate Bradshaw / July 10. 2017

Company plans to build 3.45 million square feet of housing, office and retail space

Facebook, which hit 2 billion users June 27, has announced plans for a major new office, residential and retail development near its headquarters at Willow Road and Bayfront Expressway in Menlo Park.

Big league politics undermine community solutions

by paloaltomattersJune 30, 2017December 19, 2017Leave a comment

Palo Alto Matters – June 11, 2017

On a national and even global scale, enmities are fueled around the clock by extreme partisan politics, social media bullying and “fake news.” We’re all up in arms about it. But even as we rally to resist, those same tools of division are intensifying conflict and blocking compromise here at home. Distorted battle lines, name-calling and oversimplification of complex challenges are demonizing local interests, dividing our community and impeding balanced and sustainable solutions.

A City’s Moral Impetus

by paloaltomattersJune 25, 2017December 19, 2017Leave a comment

Palo Alto Matters – Guest Commentary by Greer Stone / June 25, 2017

Santa Clara County Human Relations Commissioner, Chairman of the Santa Clara County Justice Review Committee, and former Chair of Palo Alto’s Human Relations Commission

In 2003 the world was a different place. A gallon of gas cost $1.79, a dozen eggs would run you $1.24, and the average price of a home in Palo Alto cost $1,179,000. The world had never heard of Barack Obama, and Donald Trump had not even begun his reality show, let alone his career in politics. Yes, much has changed, but unfortunately, the funding provided by the City of Palo Alto to help the most vulnerable members of our community has not.

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