Bay Area nonprofit launches Apple-supported affordable housing fund

Housing Trust Silicon Valley loans money to local developers to build affordable housing, such as this project by Abode Services.

In November 2019, Apple pledged to contribute $2.5 billion to fight the affordable housing crisis in California. At the time, Apple said portions of that amount would go toward existing organizations and housing funds.

Housing Trust Silicon Valley announced on Thursday that it is launching the Apple Affordable Housing Fund, an Apple-funded effort to build out more affordable housing in the San Francisco Bay Area. According to the Housing Trust, the nonprofit will use that fund to make loans to qualified developers for certain housing projects in the area. More specifically, the fund is aimed at "projects that need unique and flexible capital to move into the construction phase."

All housing developed through the fund will have "long-term affordability restrictions." Housing Trust says the money will support a mix of incomes. Projects are also encouraged to support sustainable construction methods and resource use, as well as community and resident equity.

Housing Trust is encouraging Silicon Valley developers to submit requests for proposals to its website before March 24.

California is currently in the middle of an affordable housing crisis that has hit the Silicon Valley area particularly hard. Homeownership in the Bay Area reached a seven-year low in 2019, and 30,000 people left the San Francisco area between April and June of that year.

Along with funding housing trusts throughout the state, Apple is making about $300 million of its land in San Jose, California available for affordable housing. It is also contributing $1 billion to an affordable housing investment fund and another $1 billion to a first-time homebuyer montage assistance fund.