"Pretty soon I won't be able to stay here," said resident Wanda, who works as a records technician in a law office. "Rents are rising every year by $100 at least."

The 1960s-era complex is like many on California Street, occupied by a mix of the working poor and young tech employees, with two stories surrounding a pool. Some of the buildings were renovated and have higher rents, while others remain on the edge of affordability as an influx of tech employees sends rents soaring.

"They are my family, they are not just my neighbors," said California Street resident Elena Pacheco, as she sat in her living room surrounded by members of four other households in her building. "We are very concerned about this situation," said Pacheco, a teacher and community organizer.

Editor's note: This story joins our series "No place like home," examining the effects of rising housing costs in Mountain View. This story is a companion to Huge demand for pricey new apartments . Together, they offer a look at two very different apartment complexes.

Cynthia, 15, left, and her sister Briseyda, 11, read on their bunk bed, sharing the same room with their mother and father in their one bedroom apartment. Cynthia says they have been sharing a room for the last seven years. Cynthia says when she turns 16 this December she wants to get a job to help her pay an expected rent increase. Photo by Michelle Le

Briseyda, 11, walks by the pool at the center of her apartment complex. Briseyda and her sister sometimes use the pool area to do their schoolwork. Photo by Michelle Le.

From right to left, Norma embraces her daughter Camila, 2, while her son Max, 2, and Sarah, 6, spend time in the living room. Including her husband, the family of five shares a one bedroom apartment. Photo by Michelle Le

Sarah, 6, shows off the side of the room she shares with her mother, father and fraternal twin siblings. Her mother Norma says, "Sarah has trouble sleeping" and "there's no privacy for a married couple." Photo by Michelle Le.

"It's rare that I eat lunch at school," she added. "Supposedly my parents make enough money for us to not qualify for the free lunch. Just because my parents make a certain amount of money doesn't mean we have enough to survive." She said she hopes to get a job as soon as she turns 16 in December so she can help pay for the rent increase the family expects in January.

"We don't have money to buy new clothes," said Candelaria's teenaged daughter. "Not to be rude, but white people have everything they want and our parents struggle." She noted that her mom has to work a graveyard shift while her father risks electrocution and works in the hot sun trimming trees.

Candelaria shares a one-bedroom apartment with her husband and two teenage daughters. They struggle to get by even though she and her husband both work -- she as a janitor at night, and her husband as a tree-trimmer during the day.

Wanda and her neighbors pay $1,400 for a one-bedroom apartment in their building near Escuela Avenue, which is below average. The average cost of a one bedroom apartment in Mountain View rose from $1,426 in 2009 to $1,828 in 2012, according to data service Real Facts.

If the residents are lucky, they might be able to move into one of about 1,000 subsidized homes in the city. But the demand is so great that people wait for years to get one. "I've been on the wait list for three years," Norma said.

"Too many people live there and things happen," Pacheco said. "It's a huge issue, you cannot have a 5-year-old sleeping on the sofa, when you have three guys sleeping on the floor."

The women said it has become common to rent out living room space, which has created a dangerous situation for the households' children. Pacheco said she knew of a case where a girl was raped.

"There's the stress of: 'When are you going to get that notice and it's time to move out,'" said Norma, a stay at home mother of three who lives in the building with her husband. "Everyone has been getting it. My mother-in-law has left, my husband's aunt -- they all lived around here and they all had to leave. Landlords tell you you can come back, but the rent is almost double. It's like, 'No way.'"

When asked about rent control she said, "We need to have something. These mamas who work so hard, a $100 (rent increase) is a lot of money if you clean houses."

Everyone in the room expressed interest in having the city approve a rent control ordinance to contain dramatic increases in rent, like they have in East Palo Alto, Los Gatos, San Francisco, Oakland, and to a limited degree, in San Jose.

"I used to live in East Palo Alto I am terrified to go back there," Moreno said. "It kind of feels like we're stuck, we're barely making it. We're able to pay rent and buy food with WIC (a government food program), but that's it."

There is of course, the option of leaving Mountain View for a cheaper city, but the residents are well-versed on all of the drawbacks of moving away. Cheaper rent elsewhere means paying the cost of leaving behind friends, family or a sense of community; paying more to commute a longer distance to work, and there's the sometimes deadly cost of living in a neighborhood where there's more violence. All of it makes it seem worth it to pay higher rent to live in Mountain View.

As rents rise, struggling tenants face uncertain future