The Stanford Daily, July 12, 2020: Pandemic hits housing affordability where it already hurts
The COVID-19 pandemic, which has put many people out of jobs and made it difficult to pay rent, has exacerbated housing inequality in an area where high-wage tech workers (and their accompanying more expensive housing) have already been pushing out lower-income families.
Facing criticism for their contributions to gentrification, tech companies have made public investments in their surrounding communities to try and mitigate the impact of rising housing prices. In June and Oct. 2019, Google and Facebook both committed $1 billion towards affordable housing projects in Silicon Valley. A month later, Apple pledged $2.5 billion to combat the housing crisis.
However, some are skeptical of the tech companies’ seemingly grand gestures — “a billion dollars sounds like a lot of money,” said Michael Kahan, program co-director of Urban Studies and senior lecturer in sociology. “But it really doesn’t really go very far in the context of the Bay Area and the housing market here, as land is so expensive.”
