Silicon Valley housing crisis prompts city planning commission resignation

A montly rent of $6,200 in Palo Alto forced city planner Kate Downing and her husband to move 40 miles away to Santa Cruz.

August 19, 2016

Houses in San Jose, Calif. Photo: Sean O'Flaherty/Wikimedia Commons.

Peter Fabris, Contributing Editor

The affordable housing crisis in Silicon Valley has gotten so bad that a Palo Alto lawyer who serves on the city’s Planning and Transportation Commission resigned after frustration over finding housing that her family could afford.

In a public letter, the commissioner wrote that she had to leave the area due to its “astronomical housing costs.” She said that her and her software engineer husband, who were paying $6,200 in monthly rent, were going to move to Santa Cruz to find more affordable housing.

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