A family of four making over $100,000 per year is considered low-income in San Francisco. In its outlying cities and regions, the issue of housing affordability persists for middle to lower-middle class people and families. In 2017, Facebook launched a rental assistance program to help professionals who serve the community, like teachers and firefighters, afford to pay rent in the greater Menlo Park area.
We’ll continue to support the communities in which we operate, but we can’t solve the housing crisis alone. To that end, we consult with local people, government and organizations to develop programs that work for all. For example, the $75-million Catalyst Housing Fund was co-created with five local community groups, the City of East Palo Alto, and the City of Menlo Park.
Facebook has also sponsored the advocacy group Support Teacher Housing, which advocates for housing for people of all income levels including teachers and other middle-income earners. We also joined the Partnership for the Bay’s Future as a founding member to address the regional housing shortage by protecting current tenants, preserving existing affordable housing, and producing housing for people at all income levels. By partnering with community organizations to help support residents, we can help the communities that we belong to thrive.
In the video below, Konstance, a Menlo Park teacher and mother of two, talks about how being able to live within minutes of her school — as opposed to hours — has afforded her more time for her students, her children and herself to pursue continued education.