Apple has divvied up the first $400 million of its $2.5 billion housing commitment, the Cupertino iPhone maker announced Monday.
The first tranche of funding will help push forward more than 1,000 units of affordable homes across Silicon Valley, including at least three projects in San Jose and Santa Clara.
Several Bay Area tech companies, including Google and Facebook, have committed to giving billions in cash, grants and land value to reduce homelessness in the housing-strapped region over the past year.
But Apple’s promise is the largest of the bunch and includes a plan to rezone commercial land in north San Jose to allow housing development.
The tech giant’s announcement Monday comes four months into a pandemic that has slowed or halted construction projects across the Bay Area and placed more residents on the precipice of eviction in the already housing-strapped region that the biggest tech companies in the world call home. As of the last count in 2019, more than 9,700 people were homeless in Santa Clara County.
“As cities and states have been forced to pause many of their long-term affordable housing investments amidst the current public health crisis, Apple is proud to continue moving forward with our comprehensive plan to combat the housing crisis in California,” Kristina Raspe, Apple’s vice president for global real estate and facilities said in a statement Monday.
Among the new commitments are four new projects funded through a partnership with San Jose-based nonprofit Housing Trust Silicon Valley, which Apple offered $150 million to use for low-interest loans for hard-to-fund housing projects.
Though Apple and Housing Trust officials aren’t naming all of the projects being funded, each confirmed two were in San Jose, one in Santa Rosa and one is in Pittsburg, California, which is in Contra Costa County. One of the projects is being developed by San Jose-based Charities Housing Development Corp.
The Page Street housing project at 329 Page St. in San Jose is being developed by Charities Housing and will include 82 units. (Photo courtesy of Apple)
“The lives of 250 families in the Bay Area are going to change for the better, and we're only at the start of this unique partnership with Apple,” Julie Mahowald, interim CEO of Housing Trust Silicon Valley said in a statement Monday. “We're excited to see these and other loans to closing, and then through the day this new affordable housing welcomes new residents.”
Many of the 250 new homes will be reserved for veterans, homeless or formerly homeless residents and people with developmental disabilities, according to Apple.
Destination: Home, a San Jose public-private partnership focused on ending homelessness, has used part of its $50 million from Apple to help fund the construction of more than 1,000 “deeply affordable” homes across Silicon Valley. Of those new units, 80 will rise in Santa Clara and be set aside for seniors who are homeless or at a high risk of becoming homeless.
“Apple’s contribution could not have come at a more crucial time, as the COVID-19 pandemic has only made our work to end homelessness that much more urgent,” Jennifer Loving, Destination: Home CEO said in a statement.
Kifer Senior Housing in Santa Clara will include 80 units of affordable housing for homeless seniors, or those on the verge of homelessness. (Photo courtesy of Apple)
In addition to investing in several new developments, the nonprofit expanded its Homelessness Prevention System, helping 1,500 families annually from losing their homes—a 67 percent increase compared to a year ago, according to the organization.
In recent months, hundreds of first-time homebuyers have been helped by a new mortgage and down payment assistance program Apple launched with the California Housing Finance Agency. The program focuses on low- and moderate-income residents with an emphasis on teachers, veterans and firefighters. More than 65 percent of the borrowers so far identify as Hispanic, Black, Asian, Pacific Islander or American Indian, according to Apple.
Later this month, the company will launch a new affordable housing investment support program with the California Housing Finance Agency to offer funding for new low-income housing over the next five years.
“At a time when so many members of our community are facing unprecedented challenges, we believe it’s critical to make sure that their hopes for the future are supported through tangible programs and results,” Raspe said.
Henry Rifle Company: Made in America or not made at all.
US Tech industry: Coded in America by Indian H1B slave labor or not coded at all.
Get rid of h1bs along with illegal immigrants and you just solved the problem. Instead of all the foreign tech workers coming to the US then the job gets sent overseas.
Housing problem solved.
What the home ownership subsidy programs don’t tell you is that in most of them when you sell the house then you aren’t allowed to sell it on the free market but back to the housing program where you only get the original sales price back but not the appreciation.
Say you get a $500K for $300K through an affordable housing program. When you sell the house then you likely only get $300K plus some modest 5% or so annual appreciation. So you really don’t own the house. The rules vary from one affordable housing program to another so definitely don’t take my example as definitive.
How else do you keep it affordable? Otherwise it’s affordable once, and that first person gets a windfall.
Fair enough. The only problem is that if you aren’t going to get the benefit of appreciation as time marches on then you really don’t own the house. You are just living in it and then when you sell it then you just get your original money back.
Like I said before. If you aren’t in tech then economically living in the Bay Area doesn’t make sense. That clearly won’t apply to everyone but it applies to most.
As I say many times before to the young, BUY a house as soon as you can even if you have to move out of the Bay Area. 65 comes quicker than you might think and you would much rather have a paid off house versus renting an apartment.
> Apple’s Housing Funding to Bring 1,000+ Homes to Silicon Valley
DON’T BUILD IT IN SAN JOSE!
We are done being the shantytown for the Mountain View/Sunnyvale/Cupertino tech plantation workers.
Housing “policy” is demographic policy.
If we let APPLE choose the housing policy for San Jose, APPLE is ALSO choosing the demographics of our community.
Lets make San Jose the gated community for rich how tech execs and let Mountain View and Cupertino and Sunnyvale be the shantytowns.
Why no low income housing in Cupertino?
If you can’t afford to live here then MOVE. This is a message for young people just starting out. If you aren’t in tech then from an economic point of view then you need to get OUT OF HERE.
If you are young and single being flat out BROKE then move into a homeless shelter for a year or two. Find a decent job sooner or later this idiotic shelter in place is going to come to an end. You should be able to save $20K+ in a year which will be enough money to get started on a life somewhere else.
Tim is so way cooler than Zuck-Chan. Tim does affordable with corporate cash while Zuck-Chan saddle their neighbors with that same $400 million in debt and taxes (so far). And Tim could repatriate from Ireland to house homeless along the Guadalupe River for a thousand years.
Apple as landlord…
hahahaha
good luck San Jose
I could solve this homeless problem almost overnight.
Hi my name is Annamarie .I’m a single homeless women .that I been waiting to get emergency motel voucher or housing place ,for a while ..one because I have bad health and I almost got rapped twice at a street were I just sit there I can’t sleep .I can’t bee out here on the streets because my life is not safe .Im scared of men when they look at me or at the shelters bad heart high blood pressure, ashma to hot to be out here when I can’t breath to hot bad knee .I’m anemic.bad lower back .my medication n my rest of my little items I have ppl been stealing them from me so scared can you plz helpe and put me in a motel voucher il feel more safe,no clothes shoes ppl take all this is my message # 6692881562I DNT eat or sleep no
or my Email [email protected]
moneyy no showers ..pls I’m begging you help me .is to hot right now .n my mouth is so dry ..God bless
Go to ER at Valley Med. You will likely get emergency shelter at Little Torture and possibly a hotel room at Sleezy 8.
Why not pause all construction to see what the needs will be post-pandemic?
People are leaving the area because they can work remotely.
Also, high density living quickly spreads the virus. We need more distance between people at home and work.
> Also, high density living quickly spreads the virus. We need more distance between people at home and work.
Thank you!
That’s why it’s a GOOD thing and not a BAD thing that San Jose is 96 percent zoned for SINGLE FAMILY HOUSING!