The New York Times, October 22, 2019: Facebook Pledges $1 Billion for California Housing
Facebook said it would give $1 billion in a package of grants, loans and land toward easing California’s severe housing crunch by building an estimated 20,000 new housing units for middle- and lower-income households.
The move is the latest in a series of efforts by technology companies to put their vast financial resources toward addressing a crisis that has afflicted tech centers including the Bay Area and Seattle. In June, Google pledged $1 billion in a similar effort in the Bay Area, while Microsoft pledged $500 million toward affordable housing in Seattle in January.
The steep cost of housing in California, which politicians colloquially refer to as “the housing crisis,” has come to cloud nearly all aspects of life across the state. Despite having some of the highest wages in the nation, the state has an escalating homeless problem and the highest poverty rate — with about one in five households living below the federal poverty line — once the cost of housing is figured in. Three-hour commutes are expanding and there are stories of police officers sleeping in their cars. Homelessness has made the sight of sidewalk tents commonplace and led to vast and multiplying camps in abandoned lots and under freeways.
