Silicon Valley is the technology capital of the world. That means you have an immense amount of wealth concentrated in a relatively small geographical location. Since these tech giants are located here, giants that employ thousands of people, there’s a significant demand for housing which is why prices in Silicon Valley are through the roof. Facebook is looking to make the process of finding a place to live easier for its employees as it has proposed building 1,500 housing units near its headquarters.
Facebook on Friday proposed to start a homebuilding initiative on its own for the first time. It has a plan to build 1,500 units near its headquarters.
Neighborhoods in San Francisco’s Bay area were not equipped to handle the influx of thousands of people who changed base in order to work at tech companies located in Silicon Valley, and there are quite a few of them there. This has driven home prices and commute times up considerably.
Employers have tried to work around this by offering internet-equipped buses to employees. Facebook even offers at least $10,000 in incentives to employees to more closer to its offices.
Facebook is looking to take it one step further by constructing a “village” in Menlo Park which will house 1.75 million square feet of office space and 125,000 square feet of retail space alongside 1,500 housing units.
The company also mentions in its plan that the housing units will be open to everyone and not just its employees. It’s going to offer 15 percent of the units that it constructs at below market rates.
Facebook isn’t the only company that’s doing its bit to address the housing shortage. Google’s parent company Alphabet is reportedly building 300 modular apartments for short-term employee housing.
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