Google expands Bay Area affordable housing investments
Google has expanded on its commitment to affordable housing, announcing Thursday an additional $50 million investment to Housing Trust Silicon Valley for new residential projects in the Bay Area.
The funds are expected to support 4,000 new affordable homes over the next decade, starting with projects in San Jose and Newark. The company also announced an update to its efforts to address the Bay Area housing crisis on the one-year anniversary of its first, $50 million investment in the housing trust’s TECH Fund.
Major tech companies last year ramped-up commitments to Bay Area housing. Google pledged $1 billion toward residential development, including $750 million of its own real estate to build about 15,000 homes and $250 million toward grants and loans for affordable units.
Google gave $50 million last year to the trust as part of a comprehensive effort to address the housing crisis. The initial investment has helped start the development of nearly 500 affordable units across the Bay Area, the nonprofit said.
Google also said it has allocated $115 million of its $250 million investment fund, and expects to help create 24,000 new affordable units by 2029. The company’s charitable arm has granted $7.75 million to Bay Area nonprofits fighting homelessness and providing social services and food assistance for poor residents. Over the next four years, the grants are expected to aid more than 33,000 Bay Area residents.
The company also said it will support innovative construction technology, especially modular housing. Several companies have built off-site factories to produce modular units, which can be shipped and assembled at development sites faster and cheaper than traditional construction.
The new, $50 million Launch Initiative fund is a partnership with the housing trust to provide reliable, long-term development loans for affordable units. The fund has already committed to two projects totaling 150 affordable units: Alum Rock in San Jose, developed with Charities Housing, and Newark Timber by Eden Housing in Alameda County.
Julie Mahowald, interim CEO of the housing trust, said the new fund will allow the partnership to finance projects in new ways, accelerating developments and the production of new housing.
Google has also dedicated significant staff to develop strategies and projects. “Google wants to invest in their backyard,” Mahowald said.
Developers have rushed forward for the opportunity, and Mahowald said the partnership has another 15 Bay Area projects, including some with missing middle-class housing, in the pipeline.
Google is investing heavily in San Jose, planning a major corporate and residential hub around Diridon Station, a transit-centric project know as Downtown West.
The tech giant, whose parent company Alphabet has a market value exceeding $1 trillion, is also expanding its Mountain View headquarters and developing a wide range of housing.
Silicon Valley tech companies grabbed headlines in 2019 with major pledges to address the housing crisis and homeless across the state and in the Bay Area. Facebook has earmarked $1 billion and Apple has committed $2.5 billion toward housing.
Apple last week announced it tapped the first $400 million of its pledge for emergency housing assistance and four, new low-income housing projects in the Bay Area.
Randy Shaw, executive director of the Tenderloin Housing Clinic, said the financial support from tech companies is a welcome addition to efforts to fund new affordable housing.
The region’s imbalance of jobs to housing remains extreme, and Shaw hopes the tech industry will extend their commitment to support better housing policy. “They’re not using their political clout in Sacramento, or even Washington, on housing issues,” Shaw said.
The San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Association, or SPUR, estimated the region has a deficit of nearly 500,000 affordable homes and apartments.
The Bay Area’s homeless population is estimated to be at least 28,200, behind only New York City and Los Angeles.
Mahowald said she believes the new fund will build momentum for other projects. “It certainly accelerates our work,” she said. “There’s a lot in the pipeline.”
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