In 1998, the now very large and powerful Google tried to rent its first space in San Francisco. At the time, it paid $1,700 a month for half a house. Since then, there has been growth in technology and companies like it, causing housing rents to skyrocket. Today, rent for a small apartment is $3,500.
Google today, wanting to mitigate the inequalities that have been created as much as possible, committed, through its spokesperson Sundar Pichai, to invest $1 billion in the construction of housing. It also announced that it will collaborate with the government and create an investment fund to create more affordable housing and provide loans to complete the project it has envisioned.
The problem of such unaffordable rents began with the rise of many companies such as Google, Facebook and Apple. Companies operating in these areas and increasingly looking for additional staff have made buying or renting property prohibitive, even if unintentionally.
A few months ago Microsoftannounced that it would allocate $500 million to provide more affordable housing, a move that was followed shortly after by Mark Zuckerberg, who invested an amount for the same purpose. Of course, for Google, this is not exactly a donation, since it will definitely make a profit from the rents of the houses.
Google has been criticized in the past for not doing enough to address the housing problems it helped create. California currently has some of the highest wages in the country and the highest poverty rate. A bit of an oxymoron.
Of course, there have been measures taken by politicians in the region. For example, Scott Wiener, a Democratic senator from San Francisco, proposed a bill that would require cities to allow denser housing. His efforts were met with fierce opposition from suburban homeowners.
