Dear Council Members,
My family has lived in Menlo Park for 25 years. Our four children all went to Hillview and Menlo-Atherton. I am well aware of the housing market and after getting tours from the many developers building in our town (as part of my position in the media), I felt the need to write you regarding the lack of lower cost homeownership opportunities being developed. I think it important for you to consider.
Menlo Park has a strong and bustling residential climate. Along with other Bay Area communities, prices have increased dramatically in the last two years. The strength of our community—with its excellent schools, beautiful recreational facilities and fine people—continues to motivate developers to build here. The trouble, however, is that most developers want to build the wrong kind of housing—apartments.
Developers want to build apartments because it is better for them, both financially and from a liability position. As a result, most new housing being developed in Menlo Park is in the form of apartments. Few condominiums and townhouses are being built. Apartments serve an important purpose, of course, but compared to homeownership they are not as positive for a community.
Our founding fathers knew that property ownership leads to security and general happiness. Owning a home—in whatever form it may be—is the cornerstone of the American Dream providing families with a sense of emotional and financial stability and, historically, boosting household wealth through equity and appreciation over time.
Homeownership plays a vital role in helping to build strong, stable communities. Owners often get involved in the politics of the community, attending city council meetings and volunteering for groups and organizations, such as neighborhood watches and school boards. They feel a sense of belonging that is often greater than someone who is renting for a short term. Homeowners are also likely to buy more services and goods in their towns, further benefiting local stores.
For many people, owning a home represents the stability, independence, and freedom of reaching adulthood. Real estate offers unique wealth-building opportunities. Buying a home expands options for the future, allowing growing families to move up the real estate ladder.
As the New York Times wrote: “Homeownership long has been central to Americans’ ability to amass wealth; the net worth of homeowners over time has significantly outpaced that of renters, who tend as a group to accumulate little if any wealth.”
Homeowners do what even the best absentee landlords can’t do: keep money in the communities and remain committed to and active in civic life, activities that are critical to the health and welfare of neighborhoods and cities alike.
In the end, to paraphrase the 2014 Times editorial: Renting can make sense as a lifestyle choice or because of income constraints. For building wealth, however, both individual and community, there is no substitute for homeownership.
Many young people who grew up in Menlo Park and others who would like to live in Menlo Park—even with hard-won down payments and strong incomes—cannot afford to live in the community that they love. As such, they are moving to lower cost options in other communities and, indeed, in other states. If we don’t want to lose this Menlo Park generation who wishes to enjoy the benefits of and make contributions to our city, then it is imperative that new, lower cost home ownership opportunities be created.
More apartments will serve developers well but not our town. As our city council considers future development projects, especially large ones such as at the Federal U.S. Geological Survey office property, it is imperative that they require that the majority of new housing starts be ones where ownership is possible.
(Parts of this essay were indirectly and directly taken from information provided by Freddie Mac, Discovery Loans and Meeting of the Minds.)
Sloane Citron
310 Arden Road
Menlo Park
