Santa Cruz County requests contributions from Silicon Valley tech companies to address housing crisis
SANTA CRUZ COUNTY, Calif. (KION) The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors agreed to send a letter to big tech companies in the Silicon Valley requesting financial contributions for affordable housing.
Santa Cruz County Second District Supervisor Zach Friend said they know these companies are having an impact in Santa Cruz because of the large number of their employees that live here. They’ve seen thousands of people make the commute over the hill.
"Pre pandemic, you would see these chartered buses leaving from Santa Cruz and Scott's Valley every single day," said Friend. "And during the pandemic, we saw a lot of people from these tech companies, buying homes within our area to do remote work. So we know that they're having an impact on affordable housing."
He also said there's been a very limited supply of housing for sales. The majority of the homes recently purchased are from people in Santa Clara County who are now working remotely.
"It's driving up prices is driving up rents," said Friend. "And all we're asking here is that since investments are being made in Santa Clara County. Because, there's a recognition openly from these major tech companies that they are impacting prices, that we also get that same investment over here because the same employees and the same issues are happening in Santa Cruz County, just the same as it is in the greater Silicon Valley area. "
Santa Cruz County Third District Supervisor Ryan Coonerty before the pandemic, 30,000 people commuted over the Hill from Santa Cruz to San Jose. Santa Cruz County has about half a dozen projects they are hoping could be achieved with some contributions from these companies.
"We have probably a half dozen projects around the County that are anywhere from creating workforce housing, to sheltering people who are experiencing homelessness, to just supporting workers," said Coonerty. "Making sure that they have accessible affordable housing like teachers. With a little bit of money, it could go a long way in making these projects come to fruition."
A spokesman for Google said the company is aware of the letter and that “its local housing policy contact is looking forward to connecting with Santa Cruz County Supervisor McPherson.” Facebook also responded with an email, “We’ve committed more than $1 billion to tackle the housing crisis in the Bay Area, California, and beyond – including a recent $150 million commitment to create housing for families earning extremely low incomes."
