Mountain View Tenants Call for Rent Increase Moratorium

Rents in Mountain View have dramatically increased as big-income earners flock to high-tech companies including Google. While tech workers complain about high housing prices, the workers who serve their needs are the people most frequently displaced by rent hikes.

Members of the Mountain View Tenants Coalition marched and rallied yesterday to bring attention to their demands of City Council. They are calling for a moratorium on rent increase and a plan for rent stabilization.

Participants from the city's Day Worker Center helped to make up the more than 100 demonstrators in yesterday's action. One worker said he knows hundreds of families in the community who make less than $24,000 a year. If displaced by rent increases in Mountain View, he said, it would be impossible to find other places in Silicon Valley close to their places of employment. "How can they pay apartment rent somewhere else?", he asked.