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This is how bad the housing crisis has gotten in Silicon Valley: A lawyer who lives in Palo Alto, California, and advises the city on housing can no longer afford to live there.
Citing Palo Alto’s “astronomical” housing costs, attorney Kate Downing explained in a public letter this week why she’s resigning from her position on the city’s Planning and Transportation Commission. Downing, who works for a tech company, has been fighting for affordable housing as a founding member of the citizens groupPalo Alto Forward. She says that she and her husband, a software engineer, rent a home with another couple for $6,200 a month but are now moving to Santa Cruz.
“It’s clear that if professionals like me cannot raise a family here, then all of our teachers, first responders, and service workers are in dire straits,” Downing wrote in the letter, which was addressed to city council members and residents. “We already see openings at our police department that we can’t fill and numerous teacher contracts that we can’t renew because the cost of housing is astronomical not just in Palo Alto but many miles in each direction.”
