About Balanced Mountain View

Balanced Mountain View promotes community involvement to correct the jobs-housing imbalance in order to sustain diversity and the quality of life in our town.

The population of Mountain View has been diverse since before the Second World War.  Its residents have been white-collar and blue-collar, from a variety of ethnicities and economic levels.  We enjoy living in a community of diverse individuals.

According to www.city-data.com, in Mountain View the daily increase in population from incoming workers is over 35,000 people.  This influx puts a strain on our roads, housing supply and infrastructure. From 1999 – 2006 the City of Mountain View issued far fewer building permits than the California average.  In fact, only 25 building permits were issued in 2002! Although Mountain View has increased the amount of housing in the past several years, it is still not enough to address the demand for housing.

The lack of new housing units has resulted in rising rents and home prices. In a report produced by ABAG www.abag.ca.gov monthly rents in Mountain View increased 58% from 2010 to 2014. This has created a situation where people who work & live here—especially in restaurants, schools, shops, and city services— must take additional work, double up with other families or friends and eventually  move out.  Balanced Mountain View considers this problem to be both a moral issue and a practical one.

The imbalance in the jobs/housing ratio is causing these problems:

  • Soaring rents
  • A less diverse community
  • Long commutes
  • Traffic and resulting air pollution from incoming workers
  • Students forced to leave schools

Balanced Mountain View seeks to redress the imbalance by exploring solutions and promoting those that promise the results we desire.  We support increased housing construction, increased requirements or options for affordable housing, increased public transit options, and solutions that will bring appealing high-density housing mixed with commerce.

We speak to City Council members about the issues that concern us, write letters, attend Council meetings to voice our opinions, provide information to the community and we support candidates for the Council whose interests align with ours.

We welcome your participation.

Add your name to our mailing list to stay informed about what happens in Mountain View.