Facebook The Latest Private Company To Pledge Millions To Addressing Housing Crisis In Bay Area
The pledge comes after Gov. Gavin Newsom called on the tech companies in the area to do more to combat the crisis. The money will target housing in Silicon Valley and surrounding areas, where a population boom driven by highly paid tech workers has left housing prices out of reach for many lower-paid employees, including teachers, restaurant staff and nurses.
The Wall Street Journal:
Facebook CEO’s Foundation, Firms To Raise $500 Million For San Francisco-Area Housing
Companies and philanthropists in the San Francisco Bay Area, including Facebook Inc. Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg, said they plan to raise $500 million for affordable housing, weeks after California Gov. Gavin Newsom called on the private sector to do more to address the region’s critical shortage of homes. The investment fund, which has raised $260 million so far, aims to help build at least 8,000 homes in five Bay Area counties within the next 10 years, according to its leaders. It also will work to preserve homes at risk of being redeveloped into more expensive properties. (Malas, 1/24)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Bay Area Partnership Seeks To Raise $540 Million To Develop Affordable Housing
A new partnership of Bay Area businesses and foundations is planning to raise $540 million for two funds to help build and preserve affordable and workforce housing, the latest example of major employers taking dramatic steps to try to solve the region’s housing crisis. Partnership for the Bay says it will raise the money to preserve and produce more than 8,000 Bay Area housing units over the next five to 10 years as well as invest in policy and planning that will protect an additional 175,000 vulnerable households. (Dineen, 1/24)
In other news on the crisis —
Los Angeles Times:
L.A. Homeless Count: Seeking Out Hideaways Along An Urban Riverbed
The annual Los Angeles homeless count has come to be defined by legions of volunteers who hit the pavement to help quantify this crisis.But they’re not alone. A small group of Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies join up with outreach workers looking for homeless people in places that are hard to access or might pose a danger to volunteers. (Oreskes, 1/24)
Sacramento Bee:
Sacramento County Program Cutting Homeless Costs, Officials Say
Marcelous Bell, holding his newborn girl in the crook of his arm and with a roof over his head to call his own, is a new man. By his account, at 18, while he was still a senior in high school in Sacramento, his mother kicked him out of his house after a chaotic upbringing. He was always “different” from his family, he said, but once he was finally “exiled,” and his mother was arrested and sent to jail, Bell was lost – “Where do I go from here?” he wondered. (Yoon-Hendricks, 1/25)
Los Angeles Times:
With First Option Off The Table, Costa Mesa Examines Other Sites For Long-Term Homeless Shelter
Costa Mesa officials are looking into alternative sites for a long-term local homeless shelter after learning that a sought-after location is off limits.The City Council directed staff last week to explore the possibility of placing such a facility at 3115 Red Hill Ave., near John Wayne Airport. However, “after further investigating the property, the city has learned that it is no longer an option,” city spokesman Tony Dodero said Thursday. (Money, 1/24)