Facebook funding housing for poor
Facebook is creating a $ 150 million fund to create homes for extremely lowincome families as part of the Menlo Park company’s $ 1 billion housing commitment.
The fund, which is the largest of its kind in the state, is accepting applications starting Tuesday for Bay Area projects seeking funding. It will help finance at least 2,000 homes, part of the company’s goal of 20,000 new homes over the next decade.
Eligible projects must reserve housing for tenants making less than 30% of the area median income. In Santa Clara County, that would be less than $ 33,150 per year for a singleperson household or $ 47,350 per year for a family of four. Rents are capped at no more than 30% of a household’s income.
Projects in Santa Clara, San Francisco, San Mateo, Alameda and Contra Costa counties are eligible, with a third of the funding reserved for Santa Clara County.
The coronavirus pandemic pushed Facebook to focus on helping extremely lowincome residents, some of whom include essential workers making minimum wage, such as gro Facebook
cery store employees.
“The pandemic has sharpened our focus,” said Ryan Patterson, head of Facebook’s housing initiatives. “The economy and our society at large is highly dependent on our essential workers.”
Facebook is one of a number of tech giants that have focused on funding more Bay Area housing. As of July, Google committed $ 115 million of its $ 1 billion housing plan. Apple is also committing $ 2.5 billion to housing. Technology companies have faced criticism for bringing jobs to the region, which critics say is a factor in driving up housing prices.
As part of its efforts, Facebook will help fund developer First Community Housing’s 123unit affordable project at a former fraternity house on South 11th Street in San Jose. Facebook plans to fund five projects within the next 12 months. The entire $ 150 million fund is expected to be distributed by 2026.
“We really want to put this money to work as soon as possible,” Patterson said. “We want to move quickly.”
Extremely lowincome projects require the most subsidies compared to other affordable projects because they have the lowest rental revenues. Construction costs are similar to marketrate projects, which can cost over $ 750,000 per apartment, according to developers. Funding for such projects is scarce, Patterson said.
Local Initiative Support Corporation, a community development group, is managing Facebook’s new fund. Destination: Home, a nonprofit focusing on homelessness aid in Santa Clara County, is contributing an additional $ 5 million to the fund.
Patterson said Facebook also plans to work on housing policy to encourage more development and efforts to lower the cost of housing.
“We do understand funding alone cannot address this problem,” he said. “The cost of housing continues to be a barrier, which is why these projects have a lot of trouble moving forward.”
Facebook, Google and other companies raised $ 55 million to fuel the expansion of modular housing startup Factory OS, which uses offsite construction to speed up development and lower costs.
Housing experts also say restrictions on development hinder the Bay Area’s housing balance. A recent UC Berkeley study found that 82% of residential land in the Bay Area allows only singlefamily housing, blocking the larger lowincome apartment projects that Facebook is seeking to build unless further government approvals are secured.
Facebook supported 15 California housing bills this year meant to ease the creation of housing, though the majority of them failed to pass. Lawmakers are now reintroducing some of the bills.
“We’re really working in close partnership with housing groups that are respected leaders in this space,” said Lindsey Haddix, policy program manager for Facebook’s housing initiatives.