REAL ESTATE NEWS

As Silicon Valley grappled with a mounting affordable housing crisis in 2019—driven by soaring property prices and tech-fueled displacement—industry giants Meta (then Facebook), Google’s parent Alphabet, and Apple pledged billions to help ease the strain. The announcements made headlines, promising to fund new affordable developments and offer assistance to those shut out by the region’s rampant growth. Six years later, however, those ambitious commitments remain only partially fulfilled, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Meta’s $1 billion pledge once carried the promise of 20,000 affordable units for essential workers such as teachers, nurses, and first responders. The company allocated $225 million in land and initiated a $150 million Community Housing Fund, backing low-interest loans to developers and creating 1,500 units for extremely low-income residents. Early initiatives offered some hope; by late 2022, Meta had funded 19 projects, generating 2,019 units of housing. But recent reports indicate progress has stalled. Since trimming its dedicated team in 2023, the project has withered, with only a fraction of pledged funds deployed and Meta providing little recent detail on further construction. A spokesperson told GlobeSt.com, “There is still much work ahead,” but specifics remain elusive.

Google’s housing efforts followed a similar trajectory. In 2019, CEO Sundar Pichai outlined a $1 billion plan aimed at creating 20,000 new Bay Area homes, with $750 million designated for converting office and commercial land into residential space and $250 million earmarked to incentivize affordable developments. Although Google has secured approvals for 12,900 homes, no construction has yet begun. The company is now considering selling a major Mountain View site, seeking a buyer who can honor their commitment to housing. Google’s pledge still stands, the WSJ reports, but the lack of ground-breaking underscores the challenges of navigating California’s regulatory environment and shifting corporate priorities.

Apple, by contrast, has accomplished more than its technology peers. In November 2019, the company announced a $2.5 billion commitment to combat California’s housing shortage, citing data that nearly 30,000 people had left San Francisco within months and homeownership was at a seven-year low. As of July 2024, Apple has spent over $1.6 billion of its pledge, helping build or preserve more than 10,000 affordable housing units and providing support for people at risk of homelessness or struggling to buy their first homes. “We’re proud to be working with community partners across the state to increase access to affordable housing,” Apple’s vice president of global real estate and facilities, Kristina Raspe, told The Wall Street Journal. Despite this progress, some portions of Apple’s initiative, such as a $300 million land project in San Jose, remain without new updates.

While the financial commitments by Meta, Google, and Apple have led to tangible results in some areas, the gap between promise and delivery remains significant. Companies attribute delays to local land-use regulations, permitting obstacles, and changing business needs. All say their funding remains allocated, but many planned projects have yet to break ground—a reality that makes these efforts a slow-moving answer to Silicon Valley’s housing woes.

Source: GlobeSt/ALM