Marc Andreessen—Marc Andreessen opposed multifamily housing development in Atherton
In June-August 2022, Marc Andreessen and wife Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen wrote to Atherton Town Council expressing 'IMMENSE objection' to multifamily overlay zones, claiming they would 'MASSIVELY decrease our home values' and 'IMMENSELY increase noise pollution and traffic.' The town's proposal included only 58 multifamily units to meet state requirements for 348 new housing units. After Andreessen and 300+ residents submitted negative feedback, the town removed the multifamily rezoning feature. This contradicted Andreessen's 2020 essay 'It's Time to Build' where he identified lack of housing as the reason for skyrocketing Bay Area home prices.
Scoring Impact
| Topic | Direction | Relevance | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Housing Affordability | -against | primary | -1.00 |
| Overall incident score = | -0.572 | ||
Score = avg(topic contributions) × significance (medium ×1) × confidence (0.57)
Evidence (1 signal)
Andreessen and wife opposed multifamily housing development in Atherton despite tech industry housing advocacy
In 2022, Marc Andreessen and his wife Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen opposed multifamily housing development in Atherton, California, one of the wealthiest zip codes in the US. They submitted public comments against a proposed housing element that would have allowed more housing density. This drew widespread criticism given Andreessen's public advocacy for building and technology-driven solutions, highlighting a NIMBY contradiction.