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Build more houses. Simple solution.

Instead of Supply / (Demand*10) try Supply / (Demand*1.5)

Apple throwing money in to a black box isn't going to do anything. Builders want to build. That's what they do. They aren't making money unless they are building. And they don't need incentives from Apple, or any other tech company to do their job. Unfortunately places like CA make it extremely difficult on them. Remove those restrictions and stand back.

Maybe one day CA will catch on before the last productive members of their state leave for better places like Texas and Florida.

Local zoning laws and objections by current home owners are probably more of an issue. If you already own a home, there’s no incentive to welcome new construction.
 
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Perfectly nice house in a perfectly nice neighborhood in the rust belt. All in: $875/month.

That is in Indiana. Houses are cheep, but they don't have many quarter million dollar a year jobs. You can live cheep in a place with no income, or you can live expensive in a place where you make lots of money.
 
Lol…no. It was sarcasm for how jacked up and broken the real estate prices in the Bay Area are. This supplemental housing, while great, won’t solve the root issue. Politicians need to actually do something about it

What is the root issue and how should politicians go about doing something about it?
 
This is nice and all but rather than relying on the largess of companies it would be nice if we just taxed corps and rich folks more and put the money to use directly...

You do know that corporations are merely collectors of taxes, right? People pay the taxes and those people are the people buying the products, employees (through foregone wages), and shareholders (e.g. your retirement account or investment accounts, Tim Cook etc). "Tax corporations" is just an attempt to hide the true nature of the game. And it is quite regressive a tax since someone making $100,000 will only use 1% of their income on a new iPhone versus someone making $30,000. As far as "taxing rich folks" you do realize that California is the highest (or perhaps #2 behind NY) taxed place in the US, right?

The true answer is freedom, not control and the politics of envy, division and hate.

Just like this charitable giving, where did the money come from to do this? People like you and me buying Apple products, then having a small percentage of it used in aggregate. Apple is collecting a bit extra on every iPhone (etc) and then doling it out as they see fit. That is fine, but might the poor want the extra $10/phone to buy some food or save to buy a house or for rent?
 
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What is the root issue and how should politicians go about doing something about it?
Agreed. There is much more affecting housing prices in California than politicians are prepared ideologically to deal with , especially since so many of their core policies, especially their equity, environmental and taxation initiatives are what are driving housing prices. Too there is the fundamental operating principle that economics are better managed centrally by politicians rather than a free market.
 
For those of us who don't live there: Is this "housing crisis" possible to solve?

E.g. there is something similar in Oslo (and AFAIK, many other attractive areas) which are experiencing population growth. However, as there aren't more areas to build on - and established housing areas obviously don't want high density buildings built where they life as this would diminish their own quality of life (infrastructure can't handle it, and also takes away things like sun and views) - it's a topic that everyone wants to fix, but aren't actually able to do much about.

As a result, prices keep on growing - and I'm sure happy I don't have to start from scratch now. I've got a decent house (145 sqm in a nice area), and that's worth about $1.5 million now - which is insane, as Norwegian top salaries just aren't that high. The pay scales are extremely compressed compared to e.g. US - much higher for low income, much lower for high income.
...and the situation is exactly the same in all other Nordic countries WRT their capitals (Helsinki, Stockholm, and, I bet, also the two other states).
 
This is nice and all but rather than relying on the largess of companies it would be nice if we just taxed corps and rich folks more and put the money to use directly...
Give more money to the people who've got a proven track record of ethical behavior! /s
 
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Something I want to know is how many homeless people are there compared to empty houses* already?

*empty, livable houses, obviously not falling apart houses that need a lot of work just to be livable
 
Build more houses. Simple solution.

Instead of Supply / (Demand*10) try Supply / (Demand*1.5)

Apple throwing money in to a black box isn't going to do anything. Builders want to build. That's what they do. They aren't making money unless they are building. And they don't need incentives from Apple, or any other tech company to do their job. Unfortunately places like CA make it extremely difficult on them. Remove those restrictions and stand back.

Maybe one day CA will catch on before the last productive members of their state leave for better places like Texas and Florida.
i don't really care either way about apple's involvement here; they have so much money that throwing a billion here or there is nothing to them. it doesn't change the core issue, which is that CA currently has far more empty living spaces than unhoused people (and this goes for the US as a whole). the solution isn't simply 'build more homes,' just as the solution to the current dire state of the american working class isn't simply 'deregulate more' or 'lower taxes.' we ultimately pay much more (if you include the absurd for-profit health premiums and lack of medical/parental leave of this country) for the necessities that most other countries get included as, instead, part of their slightly higher overall tax percentages.

the problem is the commodification of housing; the fact that in order to live in a broom closet that's falling apart in most cities, it costs an absurd amount even for someone working multiple jobs. even where I live, in a relatively small town, housing has inflated dramatically over the past several years, and our home is probably 'worth' at least 50% more than when we moved in. given not only the complete stagnation, but indeed fall of wages over the past several decades, this is incredibly concerning.

the solution is to simply house people who cannot afford it. our government has far more money unquestionably devoted to its police and military than would be needed to buy up and maintain unused homes many times over for the unhoused population across this country (and id argue that housing the homeless would do far more good than either of those institutions ever have). the ability for all of us to live with dignity is infinitely more important than the profits of landlords, full stop. letting properties sit around unused while people sleep on the streets below them just because someone wants to make money is cartoonishly cruel.

for reference, this article is still relevant despite being two years old; since then, by all accounts, even more people have fled due to exorbitant costs.
 
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What!!! Tim Cook, you helped all these people instead of developing a 5 min. flight into space (as a publicity stunt). What were you thinking!!! ;)
 
I honestly would love to see this type of money pumped into desalination plants. We have more issues with water for all of Californians than housing.

In Sacramento and the outlying areas we keep seeing more and more housing developments pop up when our water capabilities are already strained.
 
Lol. Just throwing money down the hole at favored NGO's and non-profits.

The California housing crisis can only be solved politically at the localest of local levels.
 
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How much of the money is reaching the people who need it? What percentage is eaten by salaries and other overhead by all the organizations listed?
 
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Housing is insane everywhere. I'm glad Apple is trying help in their area. My friend works in SF and can't even start looking at a house because of the insane price.

For me, I'm in the process of trying to buy my first home and it is just nuts.
 
Did any of the naysayers here even read the article?

[…] Apple said the the $1 billion in funding has helped support new housing development and construction […]

Apple recognizes the demand is far outpacing the supply in CA. The exact same thing is happening all the way over here in MA. It‘s terrifying to see as someone who knows he’ll buy a house sometime in the next 10+ years.

Obviously, the people who build homes want to…do their job? Put food on the table? I know, I’m talking crazy. Alas, the solution isn’t to just lift all construction regulation and let them at it. One can have the best of faith in any company in the trades but they will always find ways to cut corners (no pun intended) if they can. Look at what happened in Florida. That is the kind of tragic thing that happens constantly in countries with little-to-no construction regulation. (Before anyone asks if I even know anyone in the trades, my aunt and uncle founded/have continued to run one of the most respectable wood finishing companies in all of New England for the last four decades. I’ve had more than my fair share of conversations about this topic.)

One more thing. I can’t imagine land itself is too cheap in CA…

Apple's commitment includes a series of initiatives over several years, including […] $300 million in Apple-owned land made available for affordable housing[.]

This is incredibly laudable on Apple’s part. Full stop.
 
Wait, what? They gave company's $1b to some random causes? What about returning those monies to SHAREHOLDERS who own the company. Capitalism isn't a charity case. Set up a not for profit if you want to do the social warrior bit but do it without spending money that should be returned to shareholders.
 
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This is nice and all but rather than relying on the largess of companies it would be nice if we just taxed corps and rich folks more and put the money to use directly...
Tax corporations. Is a tax a cost of doing business? What do businesses do when they're costs go up? Should we tax someone's wealth so that other people can keep more of theirs?
 
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