Caleb and Rachel
Age range: Early 30s
Job: Research Scientists
Neighborhood in Menlo Park: Central Menlo
Housing situation: Two people renting a 1 bedroom apartment for ~$3000/month including utilities
“We would love more living space, as a one bedroom can be pretty tight for two people. Our apartment is also in need of repair, but when looking for alternative places, we found that the majority of available units are overpriced “luxury” units that we cannot afford.”
Their Menlo Park Story
What brings you to Menlo Park, and how long have you lived here?
We moved to Menlo Park in January 2024 and have lived here for over two years now. We moved here to begin our careers as research scientists.
What do you love about living in Menlo Park?
We love the amount of green spaces the community has been able to preserve. Burgess Park and the tree-lined Alma Street are excellent places to get outside and enjoy beautiful days. We also love how walkable the community is; living next to downtown makes it easy and convenient to enjoy restaurants, grocery shop, and support local businesses.
Favorite local establishment / institution / thing to do?
One of our favorite things about Menlo Park is our close proximity to the library, taking full advantage of the physical and audiobook selection. We also love the pedestrianized area along Santa Cruz Ave., which is one of our favorite places to dine outdoors. Lastly, we adore the summer music nights at Camp Fremont Park – a short walk from our home.
Do you know anybody that would live in Menlo Park but couldn’t?
Yes, we have a few friends who work at Stanford and would love to live closer to where they work. Instead, they are forced to live further down the Caltrain line in Sunnyvale to find more affordable rent. Apartment prices are typically the first hurdle for anyone looking to move here.
What do you wish could be better about your current housing situation?
We would love more living space, as a one bedroom can be pretty tight for two people. Our apartment is also in need of repair, but when looking for alternative places, we found that the majority of available units are overpriced “luxury” units that we cannot afford. We would love to see more “middle housing” options built – simple apartments with a washer, dryer, HVAC, and dishwasher.
If you could save $1000 / month on housing, how would that change your life?
An extra $1000 would go a long way toward helping us save up for having children. While we want to start a family, we feel burdened by our high housing costs and student loans. Decreasing our housing costs would allow us to make an easier transition to the next stage of our lives.
Caleb and Rachel were asked about housing opportunities
and the current controversy over downtown housing
Why do you support more housing in Menlo Park?
Menlo Park is a fantastic community, and we want more people to have the opportunity to call this place their home. We are firm believers that one should be able to live in the community they work in. Unfortunately, many of the working class families that support our community have been priced out and must endure long commutes.
Menlo Park has goals to build more housing. Where would be a good place for more housing?
In our opinion, downtown Menlo Park would be the best area in the city to build more housing. The close proximity to Caltrain means that not everyone living in downtown would need a car, especially with grocery stores, restaurants, and other amenities within walking distance. Additionally, building housing in downtown would preserve the greenery and tree cover that blankets our community.
The city has proposed building more housing in downtown Menlo Park on city-owned surface parking lots – what benefits and/or drawbacks do you see?
Increasing the housing stock in downtown would add a lot more foot traffic to downtown, boosting local businesses and liveliness of the area. Since the city must meet a housing development goal set forth by the state, infill development is the most sustainable and impactful way we can achieve those goals.
A concern we originally had was that the new housing development would mostly consist of “luxury units”, which would be unaffordable to the majority of people in this community. However, since learning that all of the proposals aim to provide affordable housing, our concerns have been alleviated.
What are the biggest challenges to adding more housing in Menlo Park, and what solutions are you most excited about exploring?
We believe that the largest obstacle to building more housing in Menlo Park is bad faith actors who use the law to stop any progress the city needs to make. The law should protect the people of the community from being pushed out of their homes and protect the local environment from harm. However, today in Menlo Park, these guardrails are being used to stop the development of new affordable homes downtown, near transit and services – a solution that prevents displacement and protects the environment. Housing is the key issue as to why people are leaving this community and California at large. Building more housing is the single most effective way our local government can act to help us.
Thank you Caleb and Rachel for sharing your story.
