low wages are only a part of the major socioeconomic changes affecting low income workers.
rising rents due to egregious increases are forcing renters to leave town, or double up with friends or family or move into their vehicles. some end up on the streets.
Mountain view has had the highest % increase in homelessness of ANY city in the county since 2011. San Jose now has fewer homeless since the last count in 2013, but the north county cities have all seen an increase.
The department of education keeps a tally of the number of homeless k-12 students in the us (defined as doubling up with friends or family or living in a shelter or motel or in a vehicle or on the ground). There are 1.2 million homeless kids k-12 with 1/4th in California and 3500 in Santa Clara County and our neighbor Sunnyvale has 625!
And our schools have seen the departure of 500 k-12 students to other less expensive cities in the county since last September.
Low income workers are departing at a rapid rate.

All these issues- low wages, rising rents and homelessness -are interrelated and pose a great challenge to our city and the region.

Our city council has stepped up to the plate as a regional leader being the first to substantially raise the minimum wage, are preparing several measures to help slow the rising rents and also help the renters affected, and are also beginning to address the issue of homelessness.

It helps when we tell our council members that we appreciate their efforts and their being a regional leader