One of the downsides of tech giants creating Silicon Valley was the affordable housing crisis it spurred. That has made it next to impossible for those on typical salaries to rent or buy in the area.
Apple was one of a number of tech companies which pledged to help out back in 2019, and so far has delivered more than most …
The growth of tech companies within the Bay Area led to dramatically increased demand for housing, alongside price pressure created by the relatively high salaries paid to software engineers and others. That led to a housing crisis in California, with a number of tech giants promising to help address the problem.
Back in 2019, Apple launched a scheme worth $2.5 billion, and has so far spent more than $1.6 billion of that. A Wall Street Journal report says that other tech companies have not done so well.
Tech giants Meta Platforms, Google and Apple made headlines when they pledged billions of dollars to make housing more affordable in their Silicon Valley backyards. Now, six years later, the results haven’t lived up to expectations.
Meta pledged $1B, and has so far spent around $200M, mostly in loans for very low-income residents. Google committed to the same amount, but is still talking to developers about the 15,000 homes it promised to help build, and construction has not yet started.
Apple, in contrast, has made significant progress with its own plans.
Apple has spent the most—more than $1.6 billion as of July 2024, the latest figure available, a spokesperson said. That includes funding to help build or preserve more than 10,000 units of affordable housing, financial support for people at risk of becoming homeless and down-payment assistance to first-time home buyers […]
“We’re proud to be working with community partners across the state to increase access to affordable housing,” said Kristina Raspe, Apple’s vice president of global real estate and facilities.
There’s no news as yet on the $300M worth of land in San Jose the company promised to make available for affordable housing.
Only Amazon has done better, albeit not in Silicon Valley. The company promised $2.2B’s worth of assistance and has delivered on all of that, subsequently promising an additional $1.4B. These projects have been split between Seattle, Nashville, and the National Capital Region.
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