The tech giant Google Inc is pledging $1 billion in the San Francisco Bay Area, to help fight the housing crisis. It announced on Tuesday that it will repurpose at least $750 million worth of the land, which Google already owns in the Bay Area for the residential housing.
Google Inc (GOOG) also hoping to create a $250 million investment, in order to incentivize the developers to start building at least 5,000 affordable housing units in the Bay area.
The Google (GOOG) CEO Sundar Pichai said in a blog post, that it aims to create affordable housing for low-income and middle-income residents in the area that is currently zoned for commercial activities or industrial use, with 15,000 new homes for people of different income levels.
Due to shortage of affordable housing, around Bay Area, actually is pushing out the middle and low-income workers such as teachers and restaurant employees. The critics also say the influx of tech companies such as Facebook and Google and their well-paid workers have actually contributed to the ongoing housing crisis. More than 7,000 people are homeless in San Francisco alone, according to the city’s most recent survey.
“We hope this plays a role in addressing the chronic shortage of affordable housing options for long-time middle and low income residents,” said Pichai wrote in a blog post.
The company’s philanthropic division, Google.org will give an additional $50 million in form of grants to the nonprofits, mainly focused on the homelessness and displacement.
