Microsoft Will Spend $500M To Address Affordable Housing and Homelessness in the Seattle Region (geekwire.com)

Microsoft is dedicating $500 million to fund construction of affordable homes and homeless services in the Seattle region in an effort to alleviate a growing housing crisis driven by the city's tech boom. From a report: The Redmond, Wash.-based tech giant will commit $475 million for loans to affordable housing developers over three years and another $25 million to services for low-income and homeless residents. It's the largest philanthropic pledge in Microsoft's history. "This is a big problem," Microsoft President Brad Smith and Chief Financial Officer Amy Hood wrote in a blog post Wednesday. "And it's a problem that is continuing to get worse. It requires a multifaceted and sustained effort by the entire region to solve. At Microsoft, we're committed to doing our part to help kick-start new solutions to this crisis." Microsoft's announcement comes amid growing pressure on tech companies to mitigate the consequences of growth. Over the past decade, big tech companies have drawn thousands of newcomers to the Seattle tech region with lucrative tech jobs, bidding up housing costs and often squeezing out low-income neighbors.

Comments

Loans get repaid; how is this an expenditure?

[Anonymous Coward]

Title

Re:Loans get repaid; how is this an expenditure?

[Anonymous Coward]

I was wondering the same thing: when is a loan philanthropic?

when you get big tax benefits, that's when

Re: Shareholder interests

[backslashdot]

Not all shareholders have a goal of making maximal profit. Why is it assumed that the sole reason for owning shares in a company is to see financial returns. For example, I invest in Tesla not wanting much of it back but rather to see people get affordable electric cars and to dramatically reduce the 40,000 people killed in traffic accidents by enabling autonomous vehicles. Making a difference like that to me is more important than making money.

Investment not charity.

[Martin S.]

This is not a charitable donation, it is an investment, a loan for affordable housing. Smart investment considers intangible benefits from the obvious 'good publicity' from corporate responsibility to increasing their own value by increasing the value of the environs. It is not a bad thing, but let's see this for what it is, a smart business move.

Have to fix the root cause

[Anonymous Coward]

Local governments control housing, and local governments are often full of people that refuse to build new housing.

Low supply of housing pushes prices up.

High housing price is a primary cause of homelessness.

Microsoft must somehow convince a bunch of NIMBYs to build housing, which they probably cannot do.

We do know, however, what does not work:

Rent control.
Government built housing.
Rent subsidies.

None of these properly to address the root cause of low housing supply. (Government built housing attempts to, but history has shown that this never leads to good outcomes. Ask minorities what they think of the projects.)

You must build more housing. End of story.

Re:Have to fix the root cause

[UnknownSoldier]

While I agree with your sentiments aren't you lumping all the homeless together?

Does anyone know what percentage of the homeless _don't_ want help? (Or DO want help)

Re:Have to fix the root cause

[Anonymous Coward]

This post is great in that it illustrates the very worst approach to solving homelessness. One that's been proven to fail over and over and over and over again, with almost a century worth of data to back up that notion.

You must treat homelessness first, then drug addiction next. Having warmth, shelter, food, and security is essential to building a foundation to which one can then deal with addiction.

If you're going to help people, help them. Put away your paternalistic moralizing. Tying benefits to purity tests is a recipe for failure.

Mental illness is rife among the homeless

[rsilvergun]

and they use drugs and alcohol to cope. There's been several long term successes with halfway houses that allow drugs and alcohol while constantly offering mental health services, but teetotalers and religious zealots often want nothing of it.

And besides, it's not hard to run a shelter for the occasional poor person kicked out of their apartment. The real challenge for a just society are those people who aren't just a bit down on their luck but who never had any luck to begin with. But it's just as easy to blame them for their illnesses. A hundred years ago I might have given you a pass on that, but it's 2019. Sure, we can't cure their illnesses, but we at least know it's not demons and we know the solution to their problems isn't to ignore them and hope they just go away and stop begging for change...

Zoning

[Amigori]

How often have you seen projects of this type come along, then the nearby residents, wealthy or otherwise, decry the proposal? They head to the city council meeting and petition to have the property rezoned to single-building, single-family. "NIMBY! My House's Value! Increase in neighborhood crime!"

Developers over the past 15-20y have expressed little interest in building "affordable" housing. The profit margins are just that much higher for McMansions in new or wealthy neighborhoods.

Short of the government (not MSFT) contracting specific affordable housing projects (that will come in over-budget and under-quality), the status quo will remain.