Apple announced this morning that it is allocating over $ 400 million for affordable housing projects and other assistance programs for homeowners in California, as part of its previous multi-year commitment of $ 2.5 billion to address the housing crisis. status and homelessness.
The funding is expected to support thousands of Californians with first-time assistance to home buyers or affordable new housing units, Apple says.
Projects to be launched in 2020 include 250 new affordable housing units across the Bay Area - the first affordable housing projects funded in a public-private partnership with Housing Trust Silicon Valley. The units will cover the Northern, Eastern and South Bay regions and will include many units reserved for veterans, homeless or former homeless people and residents with developmental disabilities.
Apple also offers a mortgage and down payment assistance fund and an affordable real estate investment support program, both created in partnership with the California Housing Finance Agency (CalHFA). To date, Apple has provided mortgage and down payment assistance to hundreds of homebuyers for the first time, with additional benefits reserved for teachers, veterans and firefighters. CalHFA's assistance program is typically also different, with over 65% of borrowers identifying themselves as Hispanic, Black, Asian, Pacific Rim or American Indian.
This month, Apple will launch an affordable real estate investment support program with CalHFA, aimed at financing the development of new very low or moderate income housing at lower costs. The program is expected to produce a range of affordable housing units in California over the next five years.
In addition, Apple is supporting the construction of affordable housing units through a partnership with Destination: Home, which supports homeless people in the Silicon Valley area. This initiative will help finance the construction of more than 1,000 new affordable and supportive housing units, including 80 units in a project in Santa Clara for the elderly who are homeless or homeless.
Apple says its support has helped Destination: Home prevent 1,500 families from losing their homes annually, a 67% increase over a year ago.
"At a time when so many members of our community are facing unprecedented challenges, we believe it is essential to make sure that their hopes for the future are supported through tangible programs and results," said Kristina Raspe, vice president of Global Real Estate and Structures, in one announcement. "As cities and states have been forced to pause many of their long-term property investments in the context of the current public health crisis, Apple is proud to continue moving forward with our global plan to combat the crisis. real estate in California, "he added.
Apple in November 2019 first announced its plans to pledge funds to deal with the housing and homeless crisis. It is not the only large technology company to do this. Amazon, Facebook and Google are also spending money to deal with these problems. But these moves aren't just about charity and good works. Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Google are partially responsible for the housing crisis, as their expansions to the region forced long-term residents to leave their homes. Over the years, tech companies have been increasingly criticized for the negative impacts they have had on communities, as residents who operate cities - such as firefighters, nurses and teachers, for example - have had to abandon due to rising house prices.
Of course, like most complexities, numerous other factors contributed to the housing crisis, outside of the impact of technology. There are also local area laws, zoning regulations, protests against vertical construction, the NIMBY-ism, the impact of rent control on the market, limited housing supply, the scarcity of available land and more.
Additional funds for affordable housing come at a time when some of the Bay Area's wealthiest residents and technology employees are fleeing the city amid the coronavirus pandemic and its related impacts, such as layoffs. According to a report recently released by Zumper in July, one-bedroom rental prices in San Francisco fell 11.8% year-on-year, the biggest drop in the United States and beating the record for the previous month. Two bedroom rents have fallen by almost 10% year on year.
But even a double-digit decline will not help resolve the housing crisis, as rents and house prices were already so high that they were unattainable for many city residents. Furthermore, the long-term impacts of the pandemic on the region's real estate market have yet to be seen. For example, it is unclear to what extent companies will continue to embrace remote work should a vaccine emerge, making it safe to return to the office.
Apple's efforts in the $ 2.5 billion pledge remain unchanged despite the pandemic. They include $ 1 billion in affordable real estate investment funds with the state of California, $ 1 billion in first aid homeowner mortgage assistance funds, $ 300 million in Apple-owned land made available for affordable housing affordable, a real estate fund of $ 150 million in the Bay Area and $ 50 million to support Destination: home efforts.
