Google promises $1 billion to fight housing crisis

Google has a $1 billion plan to put a dent in the Bay Area housing crisis. 

The company announced a sweeping new plan Tuesday to contribute $1 billion to build as many as 20,000 new homes in the San Francisco Bay Area over the next 10 years. 

The bulk of that investment will come not from Google parent Alphabet's multibillion-dollar cash reserves, but from a promise to rezone its own land in order to build residential housing. 

"Over the next 10 years, we’ll repurpose at least $750 million of Google’s land, most of which is currently zoned for office or commercial space, as residential housing," Google CEO Sundar Pichai write in a blog post. "This will enable us to support the development of at least 15,000 new homes at all income levels in the Bay Area, including housing options for middle and low-income families." Read more...