Habitat for Humanity Bay Area and Google are to announce today a $10 million financing partnership to increase affordable housing in the Bay Area.
The announcement was expected at an afternoon tour of one of four sites to be renovated by Habitat for Humanity Bay Area with Google volunteers.
The Google employees are to kick off their volunteer efforts at a building at 140 E. Reed Street in San Jose, with some ceremonial help from San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo and District 3 City Councilmember Raul Peralez.
The loan to be announced today is part of Google’s $1 billion housing commitment to bolster the supply of affordable housing region-wide. For Habitat for Humanity Bay Area, the funding offers financing flexibility that will help expedite the non-profit’s building pipelines and promote affordable homeownership “in an area with a dearth of housing opportunities.” according to an announcement from the city.
In addition to Liccardo and Peralez, the event hosts include Javier González, Google’s Head of Local Government Affairs and Public Policy for California; Janice Jensen, President and CEO of Habitat for Humanity East Bay/Silicon Valley, and Maureen Sedonaen, CEO of Habitat for Humanity Greater San Francisco.
Unfortunately, this is money wasted.
Below-market-rate housing means more of the neighbors you don’t want, and making it more expensive for the neighbors you would want.
Below-market-rate usually means it gets doled out as a gift to privileged groups — usually defined by ethnicity or low income. The political hands doing the giving become powerful (which is the whole point) essentially gaining voters for themselves with your taxes (or google’s lobbying budget) while the working Joes have to live out in Tracy or Stockton. The politicians reward google with favorable policies that enable them to make even more money selling your eyeballs and decimating your attention span.