Microsoft announced yesterday (January 16th) that it's going to spend $500 million to build affordable housing in the Seattle area, the move coming in response to the housing crisis in the region. Microsoft is based in the Seattle suburb of Redmond, and as in many areas where tech giants had made their headquarters, low- and middle-income homeowners are being priced out of the region. Microsoft President Brad Smith and CEO Satya Nadella said in a meeting earlier this week attended by reporters from the New York Times that they were worried about their employees being able to afford housing. Nadella pointed out that while they have a lot of high-paid software engineers, quote, "the reality is that a lot of people work for Microsoft. Cafeteria workers, shuttle drivers. . . . We don't have enough affordable housing units."
But Microsoft isn't the only one backing the issue: