What’s really behind rent measure?
I agree with the guest opinion in last week’s Viewpoint: “Here’s How Rent Stabilization Can Backfire.” But actually that’s only one of many ways.
Another is that all landlords have now been taught to never miss any chance for rent increases because they can’t know when it’s their last chance.
Or, how about when the rental market declines? Will the rents then drop? Or, will they remain as high as they are allowed to be each year because getting back up is slow and the amount of increase is not guaranteed due to the fluctuations in the Consumers Price Index?
But there may be an even worse scenario. Was the Mountain View Tenants Coalition manipulated into seeing rent control as a real solution, only to be used to bring it to the ballot as part of a hidden scheme to make huge money for investors and to yield a much greater tax base for our city?
If one type of housing is pressured sufficiently, it will give way to being rebuilt as “big and new.” Many want this. On the same lot: three times as many rental units at three times the rent! Or more.
Remember “new” is not subject to rent control. When that is all we have left, who knows how high the rents will go? The big developers can dominate the housing market with all extremely expensive properties yielding outrageous profits for themselves.
Our city of Mountain View also fattens its coffers with a vastly increased tax base and more “added public benefits,” which the City Council requires developers to provide.
Lev Edwards
Victor Way
City commission objects to tree removal plan for Mountain View's new police headquartersMarch 19, 2026 2:58 pm