Really Voice?

You are starting another thread on the same subject from July 6, Mayor pitches plan for alternate rent control measure. Please post link here. No need to rehash.

It was the over whelming opion fro that thread that the city of Mtn. View should not have rent control.

VOTE NO ON ALL RENT CONTROL!

Very very bad for everyone in Mtn. View.

The Truth -- "It was the over whelming opion fro that thread that the city of Mtn. View should not have rent control."

Oh, so comment boards trump elections? Gee, I never saw *that* law being put into effect in Mountain View...

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@No Truth at All,

I am smart enough to know rent control leads to decay in a city.

Also smart enough to know that in no other business do you have a mob mentality in thinking that it is O.K to take away rights from a property owner and tell them how to run a business but be no where around to help them pay their bills in the bad years. It is outrageous that rent control cities like San Francisco tells landlords that they can not move a family member into their property as the rent board say's landlord has ulterior motives.

Also smart enough to know that when people have to push these tiny buttons to type, your fingers do not go where they sometimes should.

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[Post removed due to disrespectful comment or offensive language]

While many people seem to think that there is some kind of a quick fix or silver bullet for rising rents, that is simply not the case. Rent control is not a solution, it merely creates another set of completely different problems ( Web Link ).

As you can see in the link, in San Jose, the rent control enacted there led to people being evicted instead.

As a rule, capital follows the path of least resistance, and landlords/ property owners will not keep or maintain properties that lose money. It makes no sense intellectually or financially.

The real cause of high rents in the area is the uncontrolled proliferation of high tech office space in the area. Cities see it as being beneficial because more high paying jobs, means more revenue for the city. The downside? Much higher rents as the high paid techs compete with each other (and YOU) for limited housing stock.

Don't blame the landlords for this one! Most of them are not being greedy, but are reacting to the marketplace. Back in 2008 when the economy tanked, rents actually went down for time. Was anyone asking for rent control then to keep the property owners from losing money or going underwater on their mortgages? No. So why should the benefit only go one way?

In my opinion, the culprits are the greedy cities who have the responsibility to manage growth in a balanced way to benefit all residents; who are instead allowing unfettered expansions of office space in order to fill city coffers at the expense of low and middle income residents.

The only fix is for cities to start limiting (and preferably eliminating) the expansion of office space, while sensibly expanding the availability of housing.

In the interests of full disclosure: I do not own any property nor have I been given any benefit of any kind in exchange for my opinion.


Jim Neal
Old Mountain View