In the news and in the city council chambers, the debate continues about housing vs. jobs in San Jose. Some argue that creating housing before jobs is a little like the cart coming before the horse, while others argue that there needs to be housing here to attract and keep new workers. Is there one that should be in place before the other can follow? I think it is an interesting debate that deserves more airtime.
I personally see more housing and more housing developments under construction in San Jose than new office space or office towers. It seems that everywhere you look there are new condos being built or, in the case of downtown (next to the De Anza hotel, on Julian Street and, soon, near the California Theater), high-rise housing. But is there enough affordable housing to keep people here and in their jobs? Sadly, “affordable” in this area is now a house or condo under $800,000. But there is a real need for truly affordable housing to keep lower- to middle-wage workers here as well.
So do people or companies not relocate here for jobs because there isn’t housing? I would argue: no. People will move almost anywhere (see the tech boom in Boise, Idaho as an example) for a good job, so why aren’t we putting all of our focus on bringing more and more businesses, company headquarters and high-tech startups here? Also, we need to become a friendlier city to do business with in order to achieve that goal. I think that if we create the jobs, the housing will come. Plus, as stated in a recent council meeting, housing drains city resources while companies create more revenue for our city.
So perhaps there needs to be a fundamental change in the way our city government looks at bringing jobs here. We should start to think out of the box about new and inventive ways to get them here.
And then I am sure we will see the rows and rows of tract homes to follow.
SG, good post, especially the third paragragh.
In a basic college level Real Estate course a student will learn that “REAL ESTATE FOLLOWS EMPLOYMENT”. Not the other way around. I think that the unemployment rate in San Jose is around 4.5% or so. So we could use more business’ here in this area. Then we
could build more housing.
Good article Single Gal. I would assume most of the readers on this blog already own a home in Silicon Valley. The problem is that their children struggle to stay here.
It would be interesting to know the demographics of those who will purchase the new condos downtown.
Great column SG. I think we need to bring in jobs first because housing is easier to tackle. If you look at other cities they build housing over the top of retail stores, and shops. They are smart and put parking garages under the housing, so it’s not like SF.
I think one of the most important issues here is, as you said, being business friendly. SJ is not. The red tape and fees, and requirements keep people tied up forever, so they go elsewhere. Also, I think this labor peace thing is a real problem too. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a strong advocate for fair wages, and health benefits, but I think SJ goes too far in requiring labor peace agreements.
Another point you made is very true. Affordable housing here is a joke. No one can afford to buy here. I was hoping to purchase a place, but have decided I just can’t do it here. I’m going to save up, move back east, and buy something. I went home a few years ago, and I saw nothing over $300K. These beautiful homes had large private yards, charm, and a fair amount of space between them and their neighbors. My brother lives there, and he told me they are even less now. You couldn’t buy a dumpster here for less than $550K!
I think there needs to be a real effort to address all of these issues before moving ahead. People will travel a long way for a good job, and they’ll travel a long way for good priced housing, so let’s get on with it.
Council gives more tax millions and hundreds millions in property zoning conversions worth 1-2 million acre to good old boys / gals developers, property owners, sports team owners while residents have less police and public services cut again, again with more cuts to come
The political arguments are not over what is good for San Jose residents but which group of “greed is good” old boys /gals millionaires get more millions of our taxes or property zoning conversions – downtown, coyote, evergreen, bart or north San Jose to make them richer
Do you how Council spends your taxes right or fairly for residents? Hell no
Great post. My vote goes to housing. We’ve had modest but positive job growth in the past year. Yet affordable housing is still sorely needed for many in the Valley (myself included). Besides, who would want to take a job here if they couldn’t afford housing? I know from anecdotal evidence that there are many people who would like to consider working in the Valley, but have been deterred due to our astronomical home prices.
#5
Sorry. No more housing in San Jose. Let Saratoga, Los Gatos, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Cupertino, etc. each add 5000 low-income housing units.
Once San Jose has a 2-1 jobs-population ratio then we can start talking about more San Jose housing.
YO!!
If you’re looking for a place to live, there are plenty of converted garages in my neighborhood you could move into.
Who needs housing when there are garages to convert.
SG wrote:“So perhaps there needs to be a fundamental change in the way our city government looks at bringing jobs here.” Sorry, SG, but government doesn’t create jobs (except in the defense and welfare industries). Entrepeneurs and private companies create jobs.
Government in San Jose actively hinders job creation by puting up so many roadblocks to opening a shop or a business that people go elsewhere.
Recently I was told by a new business owner here that it took an extra several months to open his business due to bureaucratic inertia and double standards. It took forever to get permits. His shop build-out passed the electrical inspection; but when the final inspection came, the new inspector failed the electrical. So, he had to tear out walls and do stuff the electrical specialist had passed him on. Two people, two different results. That is inexcusable.
If an inspector shows up and the owner is five minutes late, the inspector leaves. Then it’s weeks before a new “appointment” can be set up. Yet, if the inspector is half an hour late, she/he expects the owner to wait. The inspector doesn’t give the owner the courtesy of a phone call to inform the owner that she/he will be late. Kinda like doctors and dentists who keep you waiting. Thus the term “patient”.The arrogance of these people is astounding!! But they cannot be fired due to collective bargaining agreements. I hear the inspectors may be striking soon. Striking???!!! They don’t work hard enough as it is.
It has been repeated so often that housing is a drain on government that everyone now accepts it as gospel. I have never seen facts and figures to support that assertion.
Why would people flock to the Bay Area to work, and live in Turlock & Los Banos? The jobs are here, but the housing is too expensive. But that is primarily due to the LACK of housing. Not the lack of affordable housing. If there were sufficient housing here to accomodate all who worked here, the price would be reasonable. The housing costs are so high because there are more people working here than there are units to house them. And that’s AFTER the 200k jobs lost in Bay Area since the dot bomb.
Why would retail come to downtown SJ with such low desnity housing? They’d die. Look at Zanottos, which failed despite subsidies and may fail again. The one out by Silver Creek is the same—not enough density to support a market. Retail cannot survive without customers. Duh! It’s clear to me that housing must precede retail.
And this nonsense about saving industrial land is astounding. Who in her/his right mind expects much industrial growth in this part of the world? This is an intellectual property/service sector part of the world. With labor and housing costs as high as they are here, there is no significant liklihood of industrial job growth in the entire Bay Area any time soon. Service/retail/professional/intellectual. That’s what we have here…not industrial.
Since office vacancies are still relatively high, and maybe higher downtown if the Sobrato bldg. sale falls through due to acquisition, we can’t expect office building construction to ramp up any time soon. That leaves housing.
A person needs both a job and a house
Then you won’t be called a slob or a louse
You won’t have to steal, rob or grouse
Or join the mob or divorce your spouse
“Who in her/his right mind expects much industrial growth in this part of the world?”
Google, Apple, eBay, SUN, and the rest expect it and provide it.
There isn’t a shortage of job growth in Silicon Valley. There is a shortage in San Jose. We need to figure out the reasons that companies want to be in Cupertino, and Mountain View more than they want to be in San Jose. As it is, San Jose is Silicon Valley’s bedroom community. I’d say that it’s because, thanks to Howard Jarvis and selfish baby boomers, residential land uses don’t pay for themselves. You can see it in our budget: San Jose is struggling to provide services to a broad spectrum of people while the west valley cities are high on the hog and promising to lavishly treat these companies and their wealthy workers and managers like Las Vegas treats Whales.
There’s one quick, easy way to get some jobs/housing justice. Raise an army like the city-states of old and annex Mountain View. There will be no problem getting 50% of the property owners to vote for it when Citizens of the Republic of San Jose own all the parcels.
There’s no more effective public outreach than a howitzer! Let’s see LAFCO stop us.
JMOC
It is really difficult to have any discussion with people who are unwilling to learn facts
Even home builders admit that housing uses more services than city taxes housing produces since majority of property taxes goes to state, schools and county
Business land is 15% of San Jose but produces 60% of city taxes building more housing for other city jobs makes San Jose budget deficit worst
Got Polled,
It’s called a margin of error. It factors in probability of lying, misunderstanding, etc. in poll taking.
#10… I make my property tax check out to Santa Clara County and have been for years. The money goes to the County to pay for Hospitals, Jails, VTA services and support ing the light rail.County expenses not City expenses.
I don`t get your point. Please explain. How does Jarvis Gan hurt our City? Hurt the county, maybe. But the fact is our County managers brought J G upon themselves. The voters got tired with how the Counties were spending tax payer dollars.
#6, I have to politely disagree. I find it absurd that I am far from being considered “low-income,” yet that is exactly the type of properties I would have to look at should I want to buy a home.
Do we want to be another San Francisco where dogs outnumber children because young families can’t afford to live there?
The question isn’t whether San Jose should add jobs to match Santa Clara. It’s impossible to add that many jobs without widening 880 to 12 lanes each direction.
(You’d need about half a million more jobs to do it, more than tripling the current in-commute)
The question is what can San Jose do to convince the jobs-rich cities to permit more housing.
I just got polled. First question was if I had heard of Cindy Chavez. Second, if I had a favorable opinion of her. Then asked about some other people, Lori Smith, Carr, Stone, and then issues. Went on for 7 minutes.
I always tell them opposite of what I really think, just cause I don’t like people who rely on polls. How about you?
Short sighted zoning restrictions hurts San Jose business and tourism.
A few years ago there was a empty frat house on South 11th. This roomy building could have easily been converted into a great “youth hostel” to attract international backpackers, convention attendees, school groups, scouts, athletes and teams, families and others who currently have no affordable place to stay in Silicon Valley.
City planning at first OKd the proposal, but called back in a few days nixing this idea because it’s in a Frat zone, where you can only charge by the week or month, not daily overnight fees. Only expensive B&Bs; with a few rooms are exempt.
Consequently, most young tourists traveling the hostel route follow the Coast (SF, Montara and Pigeon Point Lighthouses, Santa Cruz, Monterey, Cambria and SLO Hostels) and never even visit San Jose, Silicon Valley (which is not shown on any road map) and thus stay away from the Tech, Childrens, Intel, CompHistory, Missions, and Rosicrucian museums, Winchester, and Great America.
San Jose is the largest city in Northern Calif and has no travelers hostel. Finding affordable places to stay is almost impossible since most cheap motels are filled by workers and other long term guests (saves money on laundry).
PGP2 of Santa Cruz
14: With Proposition 13, selfish baby boomers decided to give themselves a gift that would be paid for by their children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. The did this by refusing to tax themselves to invest in the future. Who do you think will pay for all the deferred investment infrastructure? You got 30 years of low taxes and living high on the hog, but we have to fix the bridges, build the railroads, replace the dams, beautify our cities, rebuild our culture, and do everything else that you refused to fund.
Proposition 13 made it so that residential development cannot provide itself with necessary government services. That is the point of the entire column. San Jose’s government is poor because it must provide services to residences without the commercial and industrial tax base to make up the difference. Mountain View’s government is rich because it has a much higher ratio of commercial and industrial property to residents.
Do you honestly not understand how property tax is distributed? Do you really think that the City of San Jose does not rely on property taxes to provide essential services?
#17
With Proposition 13, selfish baby boomers decided to give themselves a gift that would be paid for by their children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren.
While there might be an element of truth in that statement, your “selfish baby boomers” remark disqualifies you from having any credibility whatsoever irrespective of the subject.
The real problem in that case was that the government was out of control, and raising taxes without any regard as to whether the taxpayer could afford it or not.
Certainly, taxes need to keep pace with a growing society, and Prop 13 is most definitely overkill, but the government neglected to be fair to all citizens, and thus paid the price. Since we are all “the government”, we all have to pay the price for government (our own) incompetence.
Come back with a reasonable solution to the problem without insulting anyone, and you might, and only might, regain some credibility.
Don’t despair #18.
Novice understands your fatigue and wants you to know that it’s a symptom reported quite frequently by the ankle biting leftists that frequent these parts.
The medical staff at SJI General have found that leftists who get hit repeatedly with great folding chairs of truth are often diagnosed with a condition known as FFS (Folding-chair Fatigue Syndrome).
Afflicted leftists find FFS to be a bit jarring and unsettling at first. But over time, FFS gives way to cleared vision, complete disdain for Al Gore, and an increased appetite for red meat.
Ironically JMOC and planner both have it right. We don’t tax enough through existing housing only new housing or business fees.
Basically, the city needs money, not enough comes from housing taxes. People stay in thier properties way longer; to avoid higher taxes.
So to make up for the lack of taxes the city creates both a harsh fee structure for businesses and an “enforcement” collection service run by the city staff and police. Basically bury us all with parking tickets, jay walking tickets and violations.
Look at San Francisco. the average person pays over 300 per year in parking tickets.
#8 JMO,
you said,” Silver creek, not enough housing to support a market”.
The reason Lunardi closed and Cosentinos struggles at Silvercreek has nothing to do with ” not enough housing” but, has to do with a ethnic inbalance. When you have some time drive out there and take a look at the three Asian markets, they are packed from open to close, seven days a week.
you said”housing must precede retail”. The last time I looked San Jose was the third largest city in California with almost a million residents, we have the largest garbage contract in the USA, because of our number of households. The problem is poor planing and a shortage of retail providing sales tax revenue to fund the cities operating expenses. We have made our neighboring smaller cities rich, while we are a poor city.
you said,” there are more people working here than there is units to house them”. Haven`t you seen all the housing that is under construction in SJ, especially in centeral SJ/WG. How are all these people in SJ/WG going to get on I-280 or the Guadalupe?
To me it looks like we`re heading for a housing glut and a transportation nightmare.
I always hear that young people just cannot buy a house now days. Just think back ANY number of years and think of how YOUNG people were buying houses during that period. Probably VERY few had that opportunity if the truth is known !!!!!!!!!! It takes time to SAVE to buy a house at any time.
Yeah, Richard #21, I go out there frequently to play golf with friends @ The Villages. I am well aware that English isn’t even the second language @ the shopping center @ Aborn & San Felipe. And the white enclaves of Silver Creek Valley CC and the adjoining William Lyon development that includes The Ranch golf course do not have the density to make a Zanottos or Cosentinos work. Frankly, you’ve made MY point.
The Asian populace frequents the Asian businesses; the Hispanic population frequents the Hispanic businesses; the white populace frequents non-ethnic businesses…and never the twain shall meet. So much for integration, melting pot, etc. that made this country pre-eminent…but that is slipping away as the dollar falls and the price of crude oil rises.
Despite the incessant talk of diversity, it is the immigrants who are more and more refusing to integrate into the established society here, not the other way around. So now we have ethinic/racial ghettos comprised of million dollar + homes.
Scary.
18 and 19: big surprise, representatives of the gimme gimme generation are here to insist that they could do no wrong. “Hey maaaannnnn, we’re the groovy generation! Remember the 60’s?”
Here’s a proposal: increase taxes NOW while you are still working and will have to pay at least a little bit to make up for the gift you gave yourselves. Don’t wait until you’re all bums living in a Dell Webb golf course development, mooching off your children and squandering our nation’s wealth on tricked out golf carts.
Population and Housing – I have a question? What happened to eliminating segregation? Lately now in San Jose you have the Vietnamese community, the asian community, but where is the caucasian community? No more housing – because what is happening is we need to eliminate segregation. Years ago, with the schools hispanic children were bussed to different schools to eliminate segregation – now we are catering to the asian community by their areas of town? What happen to hispanic town, caucasian town? No more housing, we have enough – we are looking like San Francisco and this valley was once beautiful – how much more can the valley’s resources handle the overflow of people…think about this….