Amid California’s housing availability and affordability crisis, many community members, like teachers, firefighters, first responders and service workers, are struggling to find a roof over their heads, leaving them with no other choice but to live behind the community they have long called home.
In a bid to tackle this increasingly urgent problem, Apple has recently pledged $2.5 billion to help ease the crisis, which, it says, resulted in close to 30,000 people leaving San Francisco between April and June alone.
The investment includes a $1 billion commitment to an affordable housing investment fund, $1 billion toward a first-time homebuyer mortgage assistance fund, and $300 million in Apple-owned land, which will be made available for affordable housing.
The rest of the funds will be directed toward supporting new, lower-income housing in the Bay Area and toward vulnerable populations, specifically to address homelessness. Apple is, of course, a big part of the economic boom that has brought a flood of wealthy people into the bay area, which has subsequently priced people out of the area and forced them to move. At the very least, it’s good to see Apple recognizing their role in all this and lending a helping hand.
