Can Corporate Tech Giants Solve the Affordable Housing Crisis?

SAN FRANCISCO—In recent years, the tech industry has pledged billions of dollars to fund affordable housing developments in its back yard. These funds are championed by companies such as Google, Facebook, Salesforce and Microsoft as a way to remedy the housing crisis that is driven in part by these companies’ explosive growth and wealth creation.

But with remote work, local government approvals stymied by the pandemic, the effects of climate change reshaping the state and the threat of an eroding tax base due to economic downturn converging, it remains to be seen what the future holds for these funds. Marina Christodoulides, vice president of Project Management Advisors Inc., recently weighed in about whether or not those funds can help solve the complex problem of affordable housing. Allison Owens, vice president and general manager of Project Management Advisors Inc., has served as development fiduciary for these funds and shared insights from assessing and competing for the services of market-rate developers, to local zoning ordinances, innovative ways to bring down the price of development and the effect of pro- and anti-development activists.