I blame state and local government for constant and ever rising property taxes and very expensive permits to build or do additions and restrictive mindset of city planners to put tough restrictions for in-law units.

I agree. How about raising the homeowners exemption which has not been increased from $70.00 in forty years? Make it something that makes a difference to homeowners.
Local government fees and bond issues pad our tax bills.
Where is the high density housing in Hillsborough, Atherton, Monte Sereno, etc.?
Rather than foisting it upon cities like Mountain View and Sunnyvale, why not evenly distribute the density and all that comes with it?

@Robyn;

"Hillsborough, Atherton, Monte Sereno, etc." aren't the cause of the housing crisis in the Bay Area. In fact, the population increase in those communities is negligible over the past 50 years. The PROBLEM is caused by cities like Mountain View, Redwood City, Santa Clara, San Jose, etc. inviting tens of thousands of new employees into their city limits without provided the infrastructure to support it. Let the cities who want international corporate headquarters seated in their proximity figure out a solution to the very PROBLEM THEY HAVE CREATED FOR ALL OF US.

Shame on Mountain View in particular for completely dropping the ball on housing while inviting millions of commercial square feet to be added within the communit-- clogging the streets, driving up rents, overwhelming the schools and punishing mom and pop landlords who happen to own older, run down, high maintenance properties now saddled with rent control. Un-effing believable what's happened to this area.

There is plenty of undeveloped land in the Bay Area that could become housing. Stacking is not necessary. But new housing requires more of other things including transportation and schools. The corporate bigwigs want more employees and profit and higher stock prices. The biggest wigs do not live in the flatlands or fight commute traffic. Existing residents are harmed by overcrowding except that residents who already own houses see a huge spike in "values." As robots replace workers, demand for housing should decline. There is something to anxiously await. All of this assumes Trump does not destroy Silicon Valley by provoking the dictator of North Korea to launch or plant and explode nukes first.

"There is plenty of undeveloped land in the Bay Area that could become housing. Stacking is not necessary."

Suburban sprawl is bad for the environment and causes traffic. We should be building high-density housing near mass transit and jobs.

"As robots replace workers, demand for housing should decline."

Are you expecting the robots to vaporize the workers so there are fewer humans who need to be housed?

The problem is not Mountain View, we have built enough housing. Go take your blame somewhere else, it's not welcome in this city. You can build more housing when you build more infrastructure, not before.

Mountain View isn't a gated community. You don't get to move here and pull up the drawbridge.

The position of Mountain View with SF Bay on one side and foothills on the other makes it impossible to expand. Not a good place to locate a lot of office buildings if there is no room to expand housing. You can build high rise apartments all you want but most people ultimately want a single family detached house and will commute long distances if they must to get it. More here: Web Link

A logical place for locating offices would be in the center of a flat plain where transit can get to that center. Which describes downtown San Jose and why Apple and Google are planning office complexes there. Why cos. don't take up the huge amount of office space already there is a mystery. More here: Web Link

The final issue is why are Silicon Valley companies not doing what Amazon is and expanding in other parts of the country? Lots of people in cheaper parts of the country would love to stay there near friends and family but the hot jobs are here.
more here: Web Link

"You can build high rise apartments all you want but most people ultimately want a single family detached house and will commute long distances if they must to get it"

Are you suggesting that these high rise apartments will be vacant because everyone will instead be commuting in from their detached single family home out in the boonies?

"The final issue is why are Silicon Valley companies not doing what Amazon is and expanding in other parts of the country?"

Many Silicon Valley companies already have offices in most major metro areas across the United States.

"Are you suggesting that these high rise apartments will be vacant because everyone will instead be commuting in from their detached single family home out in the boonies?"

That's precisely what happened during a previous housing crisis back in the 1980's. People were getting priced out of housing near their Bay Area jobs, but back then, inland California was still mostly agriculture. Housing construction in and around then-small cities to the East - Stockton, Tracy, Lodi, Modesto etc surged as most people opted for an affordable 3-4 bedroom house with a yard over a cramped expensive condo or rental near work.

This time around, some people will look for similar solutions but meanwhile the whole state has become so crushingly overpopulated that nothing can really move anymore. It's like one of those puzzle games where you slide tiles around to earn points, but tiles are continually added and eventually there's no more space to slide them.

I think it's funny how everyone wants to solve the housing problems in Mountain View and expects a 4 bedroom house on a 1/4 acre for themselves..
People, wake up.. you live in a city where you have to give it up. Do you think people in Manhattan think like this?
Reality check time for you all.
If you want to have your sprawling 7000 sq. ft. house on top of 3 acres with a creek running through it and mountain views, then you gotta live outside of Mountain View, DUH?
Otherwise, live in you efficiency apartment over looking the dumpsters for 4k/month.
Just a thought from Bob..