Please join eight former Mayors and over 1000 community members in asking City Council to exercise leadership and address Palo Alto's housing shortage now!
The cost of living in Palo Alto has skyrocketed. As a result, we are seeing long-time neighbors move because they can no longer afford the rent. It is not unusual for Palo Alto workers to commute in from areas as far as Stockton, Gilroy, and Tracy, putting severe strain on our roads and our climate. We are on the path to being a city composed only of long-time landowners and wealthy newcomers.
This situation is the result of city policies that have discouraged new housing while encouraging more office space. As a result, Palo Alto has the nation’s highest median rent and the region’s highest jobs-to-housing ratio. City Council has taken measures to address the jobs side of the equation by limiting office growth. Now, it is time to address the housing side of the equation.
A true fix will require a long-term focus and deep commitment; we believe, though, that we can maintain the character of our community while making changes to alleviate this imbalance. Council can show leadership by crafting policy to achieve the following goals:
1. Encourage construction of more studio apartments and other naturally affordable smaller units.
2. Encourage buildings composed of apartments and condos over ground-floor retail. Current policy requires developers to build office space into any new four-story building in a commercial district.
3. Make it easier for homeowners to build second units on their property, especially to accommodate multiple-generation households and caretakers.
4. Allow car-light and car-free housing in walkable, transit-accessible areas for residents who are able to not own a car.
5. Facilitate the development of new senior housing, including alternative models such as co-housing, home sharing, and mixed-use senior communities with retail and services.
We ask the City Council to plan for more housing so that Palo Alto can be the community of opportunity it has historically been: a family-friendly city that welcomed interesting thinkers and doers of all ages and all incomes. Many of the above ideas were implemented successfully in Palo Alto’s South of Forest (SOFA) plan. We know that this can be done!
To find out more see our blog post.
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Eva Milgrom signed 2016-05-15 23:11:30 -0700
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Nalan Lem signed 2016-05-15 23:07:31 -0700
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Sadie Weber signed 2016-05-15 23:06:22 -0700
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Bill Lichtenberg signed 2016-05-15 23:05:28 -0700
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Phyllis Klein signed 2016-05-15 23:04:32 -0700
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Leonard Weisberg signed 2016-05-15 23:03:23 -0700
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Yushi Wang signed 2016-05-15 23:02:15 -0700
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Damiele Arsac signed 2016-05-15 23:01:14 -0700
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Stephanie Enos signed 2016-05-15 22:59:46 -0700
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Robert O'Connor signed 2016-05-15 22:58:35 -0700
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Dave Shafer signed 2016-05-15 22:57:08 -0700
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Patricia Saffir signed 2016-05-15 21:23:31 -0700
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Autumn Albers signed 2016-05-15 14:24:55 -0700
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Steven Crane signed 2016-05-15 12:54:46 -0700Steven Crane
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Callen Rain signed 2016-05-12 22:51:45 -0700
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Elana Katyal signed 2016-05-12 22:11:27 -0700
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Jeralyn Moran signed 2016-05-12 15:59:31 -0700
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Ken Joye signed 2016-05-04 15:28:07 -0700I support denser housing adjacent to transit
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Brian Hill signed via Nicholas Shafer 2016-04-22 21:56:59 -0700Please do something soon. We should share our wonderful community with more people.
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Justine Sarmiento signed via Nicholas Shafer 2016-04-22 11:54:57 -0700
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Eric Garcia signed via Nicholas Shafer 2016-04-22 11:21:12 -0700I have lived in the Bay Area my whole life and I’ve seen the landscape change into “silicon valley”. Housing in SF is expensive, but at least they have 15$ an hour. Our housing is more expensive but we’re still stuck at 9$. We need rent control ASAP.
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Dakota Baker signed via Nicholas Shafer 2016-04-22 09:22:37 -0700
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Sutton Howard signed via Nicholas Shafer 2016-04-22 06:43:33 -0700
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Daisy Rosalez signed via Nicholas Shafer 2016-04-21 21:46:41 -0700
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Nicholas Shafer signed 2016-04-21 21:23:34 -0700Nicholas Shafer
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Laura Jablonski signed 2016-04-19 10:47:25 -0700
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Joyce Beattie signed 2016-04-17 23:35:47 -0700Joyce Beattie
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anita lusebrink signed 2016-04-15 17:27:40 -0700
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Joseph Ellis signed 2016-04-14 12:41:46 -0700
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Sheraden Nicholau signed 2016-04-13 08:46:27 -0700
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