Every day as we travel around Santa Clara County to get to work or run errands, we experience the impact of our jobs-housing imbalance: It is taking longer and longer to get from place to place.

We simply do not have enough homes for our workforce to live, and the homes we have are not located near jobs and transit. As a result, too many people drive every day to the job-rich North County from the southern reaches of Santa Clara, Santa Cruz and Alameda Counties and beyond, where housing is more plentiful and affordable.

We have a housing crisis, and that it will take serious and concerted action to respond. Knowing that, we are excited to see Mountain View city leaders providing leadership for the county and the region. Tuesday night, the council is expected to approve 9,850 new homes in the North Bayshore area, the headquarters of Google.

As long-time residents of Mountain View, we are proud of our city and all it offers—great weather, low crime, a diverse population, top-ranked schools, beautiful parks including the majestic Shoreline Park and so much more.

Home to Google, Microsoft and LinkedIn, Mountain View has benefited by the jobs they bring to the city. The downside is that demand for housing far exceeds available supply, and both housing costs and rents have skyrocketed.

Buying a home — with median values topping $1.6 million—is only possible if you have an annual income of over $300,000. And that’s only if you have a 10 percent down payment. Monthly rents averaging $3,500 require an income of $140,000. This prices out our children, friends, teachers and others who we want to live in our community.

Mountain View has 2.6 jobs for every home — about double the ideal number of jobs per housing unit. In Santa Clara and San Mateo counties, only Palo Alto has a higher imbalance of jobs to residential units.

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As a result, Mountain View residents face traffic hassles, and employees who are forced to live outside the city spend sometimes drive more than an hour each way. This creates serious impacts on the environment, our air quality, and our quality of life.

In 2014, the City Council adopted the North Bayshore Precise Plan to provide a roadmap for development but did not include housing. In November 2014, housing in North Bayshore was a major campaign issue, and three new City Council members who supported housing in North Bayshore were elected .

In early 2015, the council directed staff to come back with an update to the plan that added residential land uses. Already a major high-tech employment center with 28,000 jobs but no homes, the NBS Plan envisions adding 11,000 new jobs.

After more than two years of work and a series of meetings and community workshops, city staff is recommending that the council approve 9,850 new homes, with a goal of 20 percent that are affordable to lower- and moderate-income families.

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Tech boom spurs San Jose housing, office, retail towers There are currently 1,197 subsidized rental units In Mountain View. Available affordable housing could more than double if the North Bayshore Precise Plan is approved.

Google owns the majority of the land in North Bayshore and has been a strong supporter of adding both jobs and housing. City leaders are displaying immense political will, community members are displaying openness to new development in their neighborhoods and Google is displaying how an employer can be a responsible actor.

Should 9,850 new homes for North Bayshore be approved on Tuesday as anticipated, Mountain View will provide a model for other jurisdictions in the region to follow.

Kathy Thibodeaux is a board member of SV@Home. Cliff Chambers is a member of the Mountain View Coalition for Sustainable Planning. Both live in Mountain View.