{"id":122,"date":"2019-01-21T14:18:51","date_gmt":"2019-01-21T14:18:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/archives\/?p=122"},"modified":"2019-01-21T15:58:11","modified_gmt":"2019-01-21T15:58:11","slug":"big-techs-affordable-housing-push-doesnt-let-them-off-the-hook-next-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/archives\/122\/","title":{"rendered":"Big Tech\u2019s Affordable Housing Push Doesn\u2019t Let Them off the Hook \u2013 Next City"},"content":{"rendered":"

nextcity.org\/daily\/entry\/big-techs-affordable-housing-push-doesnt-let-them-off-the-hook<\/a>
\nBig Tech\u2019s Affordable Housing Push Doesn\u2019t Let Them off the Hook
\nFor affordable housing developers who need to move federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit projects forward, January has been frustrating. Calls and e-mails to HUD are met with the \u201csorry we\u2019re furloughed\u201d soundtrack of the government shutdown.
\nNo one answering the phones at the Weaver Building in Washington, D.C. is a potent symbol of the depressing state of affairs for public sector responses to the U.S. affordable housing crisis. The federal lights are off, which further precludes a meaningful congressional debate about anything resembling a national housingc plan or policy. Meanwhile, local elected officials heed the NIMBY interests of current constituents to block affordable housing for future residents. The end result: government and the electorate at all levels are currently proving themselves not up to the task of providing the estimated 7.2 million homes needed for families unable to afford market-rate housing.
\nEnter Microsoft, which this week announced $475 million in loans for middle- and low-income affordable housing in greater Seattle. The tech giant, based in suburban Redmond, will also give $25 million in grants to support homelessness efforts like the formation of a new public agency between the City of Seattle and King County, the surrounding jurisdiction, where the homeless population is the third largest in the U.S. Finally, the company will lobby local governments to relax regulations that inhibit housing construction and lean on Washington state legislators to double the $100 million housing trust fund.
\nMicrosoft\u2019s move comes on the heels of Oakland-based Kaiser Permanente\u2019s $200 million affordable housing investment, the Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative taking up the cause, and Salesforce\u2019s CEO throwing his weight behind San Francisco\u2019s recently passed city tax on big business to fund homelessness services.
\nWith all of these steps in the New Gilded Age\u2019s school of philanthropy, Big Tech is increasingly focused on housing policy. That attention is welcome news for local officials overwhelmed by the affordable housing and homelessness crises on their doorstep, for which tech companies are partly to blame.
\n\u201cI\u2019ve been very clear that for us to take on a challenge of this scale, it needs to be an all hands on deck effort,\u201d said King County Executive Dow Constantine on Thursday at a suburban Seattle theatre where Microsoft unveiled its plan. \u201cThe significance of today is that it is a breakthrough in making that partnership real.\u201d
\nClose watchers of the tech sector believe Microsoft\u2019s unprecedented announcement will prompt others.
\n\u201cThis is a bold move by Microsoft and it certainly throws down a challenge for other companies \u2014 especially crosstown rivals Amazon \u2014 to up their game,\u201d University of Washington business historian Margaret O\u2019Mara tells Next City. (When queried, Amazon pointed to its existing plans to house a 65-unit homeless shelter in one of its new Seattle buildings, but did not indicate any financial commitment to fund affordable housing.)
\n\u201cThis recognition is particularly significant considering the heads-down, it\u2019s-all-about-the-tech focus that computer hardware and software companies have had historically,\u201d O\u2019Mara says. \u201cTheir leaders might have become great philanthropists, but tech companies have never become players in regional affairs like we are seeing today.\u201d
\nMicrosoft\u2019s $225 million in below-market-rate loans for middle-income housing will plug a much-needed gap as Washington state\u2019s constitution prohibits loaning public dollars for all but the poor. The other $250 million will be allocated at market rates to finance low-income housing through federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credits.
\nAffordable housing advocates commended Microsoft for its announcement but were also careful not to overstate the significance of the contribution.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s not a new dollar in the system, it\u2019s a cheaper dollar,\u201d says Rick Jacobus, principal of Street Level Urban Impact Advisors. \u201cThe constraint for affordable housing is subsidies.\u201d
\nIf the Washington legislature doubles the state housing trust fund \u2014 a source of subsidies for affordable housing \u2014 that would arguably have a bigger impact than Microsoft\u2019s revolving loan fund. And while Microsoft\u2019s lobbying suggests that the company understands the need for a continued public sector push to make up the 305,000-unit affordable housing deficit in the Puget Sound region, Jacobus cautions that corporate largesse could breed complacency.
\n\u201cIf [Microsoft\u2019s announcement] causes us to lessen our call for public investment then it has a negative effect,\u201d Jacobus says.. \u201cWe have to be sure not to fall into a false sense that giant corporations are going to take care of this problem.\u201d
\nThe problem is both regulatory and fiscal. \u201cWashington state\u2019s lack of a state income tax and California\u2019s Prop 13 have starved the public sector of revenue, and zoning and land use laws make it nearly impossible to build anything, especially multifamily housing,\u201d O\u2019Mara says. \u201cThis is how this mess began, and changing it is how it ends.\u201d
\nBoth Constantine and Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan pointed to the hundreds of millions their jurisdictions are already investing in affordable housing, but neither elected official nor Microsoft President Brad Smith was willing to comment on a state income or capital gains tax. Durkan also remained mum on the city\u2019s groundbreaking big business tax to fund affordable housing that went down in flames under pressure Amazon, local businesses, and conservative grassroots efforts.
\nWhile Smith did not acknowledge that Microsoft\u2019s decision was a direct response to the big business tax debate that engulfed Seattle last year, he did indicate that the company\u2019s housing plan emerged from the Challenge Seattle business roundtable chaired by a former Washington governor, which began meeting in earnest shortly after the issue led to raucous protests citywide.
\nThat connection gives National Housing Trust president Priya Jayachandran slight pause amid an otherwise rosy announcement.
\n\u201cThe only risk is that business argues they don\u2019t need to pay these taxes because they are doing it on their own,\u201d Jayachandran says. \u201cLet\u2019s not let business off the hook. We still need government to be doing a whole lot more.\u201d
\nThat need is especially true nationally, says John Duda of the Democracy Collaborative.
\n\u201cRobust publicly funded programs at the local, state, and federal level, with a clear orientation towards equity and inclusion, are a key part of making sure that every community \u2014 not just those with a munificent tech giant in their backyard \u2014 gets the resources they need to tackle challenges around housing,\u201d Duda says. \u201cPhilanthropic investment in affordable housing can be important, but community control of land and housing needs to be the end result of those investments.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mary Bolton 202-390-1208<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

nextcity.org\/daily\/entry\/big-techs-affordable-housing-push-doesnt-let-them-off-the-hook Big Tech\u2019s Affordable Housing Push Doesn\u2019t Let Them off the Hook For affordable housing developers who need to move federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit projects forward, January has been frustrating. Calls and e-mails to HUD are met with the \u201csorry we\u2019re furloughed\u201d soundtrack of the government shutdown. No one answering the phones at the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-housingarchive"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}