Month: October 2019

The social-media giant estimates its initiative will produce up to 20,000 new housing units over the next decade. Facebook Inc. said it is providing $1 billion to help ease a shortage of affordable housing in Silicon Valley, the third tech giant this year to commit to addressing the issue as the industry seeks to soften the impact of its rapid growth.

The social network company estimates its initiative will produce up to 20,000 new housing units over the next decade, much of it aimed at teachers, police and other middle-class workers near its headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif.

This past Tuesday (Sept 17, 2019), I attended a panel discussion on affordable housing in San Francisco. Afterwards, I wrote and edited a quick summary of my main takeaways from the panel and shared it on Instagram. Several friends commented that it was helpful to them, so I’m sharing it here on Medium in a more permanent location.

Background

The panel was hosted by Impact SF, a new chapter of an NYC organization which describes itself as “a non-profit and non-partisan organization dedicated to understanding today’s most pressing social and political issues and promoting viable actions for positive change”. It was also co-hosted by Yimby Action, a CA organization focused on lobbying to bring down the cost of housing.