Yes In My Back Yard

We are Mountain View YIMBY, advocating for more housing in our city and beyond. We are pro-housing activists fighting for more inclusive housing policies and a future of abundant housing in Mountain View. We drive policy change to increase the supply of housing at all levels and bring down the cost of living in our thriving city.

The San Francisco Bay Area is not “full” of too many people. It is full of opportunity to create a dynamic economy and housing market that work for everyone. The housing shortage is a political problem: Zoning and other restrictions have prevented construction of enough places for people to live. We want to fix this and make our community more welcoming and inclusive. Let’s legalize housing.

Agenda item 7.3 – Gatekeeper Review Process

 Posted on January 22, 2024  |  Ilya Gurin

Re: Agenda item 7.3 – Gatekeeper Review Process To Mayor Hicks and the City Council: Mountain View YIMBY wishes to address item 7.3 on the agenda for January 23. Request: Mountain View YIMBY urges the City to: Resume the Gatekeeper process by June 2024 under the existing rules, and Produce a new set of revisions to the Gatekeeper process, for implementation after June 2024, that fully comply with the legal obligations of Program 1. [Read More]

Thanks for Approving NBS Housing

 Posted on June 17, 2023  |  David Watson

Dear Members of the Mountain View City Council, I am writing to you on behalf of Mountain View YIMBY, a community of pro-housing activists with a history deeply connected to North Bayshore. Our organization was born out of a shared passion for creating more housing in North Bayshore and, over the years, has grown to advocate for inclusive and abundant housing throughout our city. As one of the original members who was drawn to this cause because of the housing issues in North Bayshore, I personally want to express our deepest gratitude for your unanimous approval of the North Bayshore Master Plan. [Read More]

Agenda Item 6.1 - 2023-2031 Housing Element Adoption

 Posted on April 11, 2023  |  Salim Damerdji

I am pleased to write on behalf of Mountain View YIMBY that our organization strongly **supports the March Draft **of the Housing Element with the additions in Exhibit E of the resolution. We believe that, with those additions, the Draft fully complies with state law and merits HCD’s prompt approval. The March Draft is the product of two years of community outreach, extensive stakeholder engagement, and data-driven analysis. Ellen Yau, Eric Anderson, Aarti Shrivastava and other city staff should be applauded for the herculean effort and conscientious analysis that they’ve invested into this roadmap for the city’s future. [Read More]

Mountain View YIMBY Endorses Emily Ramos for City Council

 Posted on January 20, 2023  |  David Watson

Mountain View YIMBY is thrilled to endorse Emily Ramos for the open seat on the Mountain View City Council. As a dedicated leader of our organization for many years, Emily has a deep understanding of the city’s housing crisis and a proven track record of working towards creating more affordable housing options for Mountain View residents. As a member of the Rental Housing Commision and the current vice-chair, Emily has been instrumental in implementing a law that protects 15 thousand families from significant rent increases and evictions. [Read More]

Housing Element Requests

 Posted on January 19, 2023  |  Salim Damerdji

Recommended site inventory changes:Add two additional city-owned lots downtown to the site inventory.Add all sites from the “back pocket” into the site inventory. Add R2 sites in high opportunity areas South of El Camino with density assumptions derived based on SB 10’s allowance for 30’ heights and ten-plexes.Recommended programmatic changes1.2 Eliminate Parking Minimums Standards for Affordable Housing Developments 1.3 Review and Update Ordinance and Precise Plan Residential Standards 1.4: Religious and Community Assembly Sites for Housing [Read More]

Housing Element Draft 2 Site Capacity Adendum

 Posted on December 16, 2022  |  Salim Damerdji

Executive Summary On July 14th, 2022, Mountain View YIMBY provided the City with a data-driven analysis of site capacity assumptions in Draft 1. The letter in front of you replicates our previous methodology to update our findings for Draft 2, which likewise fails to justify its capacity assumptions. Our main results are presented in Table 1, and the key takeaways are: Despite HCD’s review letter1 reminding the City that it “must demonstrate [pending] units are expected to be constructed during the planning period,” Draft 2 shares Draft 1’s unjustified assumption that 100% of pipeline projects will be built by 2031, when data shows a third of pending units fail to be built in 8 years. [Read More]

Letter to Council Regarding Housing Element Draft 2

 Posted on December 12, 2022  |  David Watson, Ilya Gurin

Re: Item 6.1 Revised 2023-2031 Draft Housing Element To City Council: MV YIMBY appreciates the work of staff and Council in working to create a compliant Housing Element. However, we are concerned that the revised draft still does not meet the bar of being compliant and, more fundamentally, does not sufficiently address the housing crisis. We believe there is still time available to make changes, even if it may lead to delays with the EIR. [Read More]

Regarding Mountain View Draft 2023-2031 Housing Element, November 2022 Draft

 Posted on December 6, 2022  |  Ilya Gurin, Kevin Ma, David Watson

We continue to believe that this housing element draft is a continuation of the existing policies that have resulted in a shortage of housing. Site Inventory We maintain that the general points of our earlier Site Capacity Addendum still apply to this revised draft. Pipeline Projects **Already-completed projects: **950 West El Camino Real had its public grand opening ceremony on May 6, 2022. In a Planning Commission meeting on Nov 14, staff stated that the project was opening and occupied under a Temporary Certificate of Occupancy for months. [Read More]

Village Center Zone update and SB330

 Posted on December 6, 2022  |  David Watson

Regarding Item 5.1 of the Environmental Planning Commission December 7th 2022: We’re writing to bring to your attention that SB330 bans any change that would reduce a site’s residential development capacity from what it was on January 1st, 2018. It seems like this may apply to the village center designation, which previously was only vaguely defined in the general plan. While it’s good to have specificity in the zoning, it appears that these new more objective plan standards may actually reduce the residential capacity of these sites. [Read More]

Endorsement of project at 1265 Montecito

 Posted on November 2, 2022  |  David Watson, Alexander Melendrez

Mountain View YIMBY is excited for the new affordable housing development at 1265 Montecito! Mountain View needs more affordable homes! 1265 Montecito Ave will be a new ground up 100% affordable 5-story 85-homes housing development with 45 on-grade parking stalls and 85 indoor, secured bike parking spaces on the 1.04 acre lot. That’s more bike parking than car parking (For those curious that’s a density of 83.18 units an acre, which is a pretty good use of space! [Read More]