Facebook announced Tuesday it is committing $1 billion to help address the affordable housing crisis in California.
The social media site’s investment will help create up to 20,000 new housing units to help essential workers such as teachers, nurses and first responders, to live closer to the communities they work in. Facebook partnered with California Governor Gavin Newsom and the State of California to accelerate progress in affordable housing.
“Access to more affordable housing for all families is key to addressing economic inequality and restoring social mobility in California and beyond,” Newsom said. “State government cannot solve housing affordability alone, we need others to join Facebook in stepping up – progress requires partnership with the private sector and philanthropy to change the status quo and address the cost crisis our state is facing. Public-private partnerships around excess land is an important component in moving us forward.”
Facebook explained that a family of four in San Francisco making more than $100,000 per year is still considered low income.
Back in 2017, Facebook announced it was building affordable housing in Silicon Valley so that its employees would have affordable places to live.
Now, Facebook will be investing $1 billion over the next 10 years in these areas:
- $250 million to a partnership with the State of California for mixed-income housing on excess state-owned land in communities where housing is scarce. This public-private partnership ensures that incremental new housing supply is brought to the market segments that need it most.
- $150 million for the production of affordable housing, including housing for the homeless, in the San Francisco Bay Area. We will contribute to the Bay’s Future Fund, the affordable housing investment fund of Partnership for the Bay’s Future, to work toward a more livable, equitable and racially and economically diverse Bay Area.
- $225 million in land in Menlo Park. This is land Facebook previously purchased, which is now zoned for housing. We are committed to producing more than 1,500 units of mixed-income housing.
- $25 million to build teacher and essential worker housing on public land for school districts in San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties. This partnership with Santa Clara County and local school districts, announced October 17, will help fund construction of housing on county-owned land for teachers and other essential workers, enabling them to live near the communities where they work.
- $350 million in funds for additional commitments based on the rollout and effectiveness of the initiatives described above. These funds will also be used to support more affordable housing in other communities where Facebook has offices.
