Posted by Leslie Bain
a resident of Cuesta Park
on Oct 26, 2022 at 8:38 pm
Leslie Bain is a registered user.

Forgive me, but do these words really even mean anything?

"“We’ve increased (the inclusionary units required) to 20% in these new master plan sites like North Bayshore,” Kamei said. “We’ve also been able to expand that below market rate program to townhomes, where we have increased that to 20%. I have supported moving the needle in terms of being creative on how we’re actually getting those units.”"

Project after project gets "reluctantly" approved by the City Council without having EVEN 15% BMR units. In this one Web Link the developer pulled 3 BMR units off the table AT THE LAST MINUTE, and the project STILL got approved.

Over the last 8-year RHNA cycle, only 12% of housing units Web Link (NOT EVEN 15%) were created for households who earn <$188K (per 2020 census data); these households are 56% of the population. No legislation has been passed to change that number going forward. As far as I can see, local city "requirements" are more like "guidelines" which are RARELY upheld.

And now, Google says nevermind to whatever was said before, they just don't wanna build affordable housing at Middlefield Park. Web Link They are willing to donate a bit of land, but one of the richest companies on earth doesn't want to pay for affordable units, despite their HUGE impact on housing inflation in MV. Shame on them!

The entire community of MV is being played, by the likes of developers and Google. But it never would have happened without leaders in the CA YIMBY movement cleverly working to pass state legislation to "tie the hands" of local city councils. CA YIMBY wants "more housing of any kind" as long as it's expensive and market-rate, and it very much looks like they are getting it in abundance while over half the population here gets the short end of the stick.

It breaks my heart to watch this play out, all under a banner of "affordable housing", that's the worst part. The rich get richer while they pretend to be advocates for "teachers, service workers, and our kids who don't code".

I am proudly voting for the candidate who is NOT ENDORSED by Mountain View YIMBY: Li Zhang Web Link

Posted by JAFO
a resident of Old Mountain View
on Oct 29, 2022 at 3:44 pm
JAFO is a registered user.

Just an observation,

There are MANY resources describing that another major price decline in rentals will hit very soon. In fact the reality is that the rental market is just as endangered as home owners given that the property depreciation will be viral and impact all properties in the next 12 months.

Now if many rental businesses fail because of inflation and interest rate increases, the best solution might be for the private mortgage companies to offer them for free to the public housing sector for tax credits. Since these companies need them to keep from going bankrupt.

This does not need legislation, but it would be nice to have a statute to make it easier. It simply looks like the housing market did not learn from 2008 and made the same mistakes as they did before. Trying to maximize profit on a short term basis without correcting for values that were simply manipulated and worse not even substantiated.

For example no property is examined prior to sale with GPR scanning to determine how sound the construction is. This is an accepted Non Destructive Methode of detecting defects and damage BEFORE a catastrophic event. In fact no one even scans the wood or materials before construction allowing for defectives materials to be used. In effect Garbage Construction Materials are used in a building with no attempts to prevent it.

Thus construction calls these DEFECTS checks instead of telling the truth. They are defective materials and construction. They CLAIM they are harmless when NO SCIENTIFIC PROOF can be proved to substantiate it. And Building Inspections allow for not using best methods to detect these defects intentionally because these detections would devastate the property values.

Especially City Inspections, which don't appear to follow the building code requirements anyway.