Housing prices in Mountain View continue to skyrocket as the city struggles to meet the high demand for new homes.
The city council on Tuesday is scheduled to hold a study session on plans for the new North Bayshore area, which calls for 3.4 million square feet of office space. Residents, however, would like to see more houses and fewer offices.
"Mountain View is short on housing and we have almost 50,000 more jobs than employed residents," said Lenny Siegel, who is running for city council and a member of Campaign for a Balanced Mountain View. "So the prices of housing are going up."
Siegel and his group is asking the city council to allow at least 5,000 new housing units in the North Bayshore plan -- a request he said some Google leaders support.
Other, however, said luring more companies to the area will help sustain Mountain View's economy by providing a healthy tax base. Mountain View is home to tech companies like Google, Intuit and LinkedIn.
Siegel said if the current plan stays, Mountain View will lose out in the end.
"Mountain View is known for its diversity of incomes," he said. "If we continue with this plan it will destroy that."
