Housing Affordability

In May 2025, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative announced it would end its statewide housing and homelessness investments in California by 2026, just one year after Priscilla Chan celebrated the initiative's five-year anniversary and its mission to 'improve housing affordability and promote racial equity.' CZI also laid off staff on its community team addressing affordable housing and economic inclusion. Grantee organizations lost significant funding; Juan Hernandez of Creser Capital Fund reported losing $500,000, roughly one-third of his nonprofit's funding.

In February 2025, Amazon contributed $100,000 to oppose Proposition 1A, a ballot measure to fund Seattle's social housing authority through a 5% payroll tax on companies for salaries over $1 million. Amazon joined Microsoft and other corporate donors in spending $780,000 total against the measure. Despite the corporate opposition, the measure passed with 63% voter support.

In February 2025, Microsoft contributed $100,000 to oppose Proposition 1A, a ballot measure to fund Seattle's social housing authority through a 5% payroll tax on companies for salaries over $1 million. Microsoft joined Amazon and other corporate donors in spending $780,000 total against the measure. Despite the corporate opposition, the measure passed with 63% voter support.

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.

In September 2018, Jeff Bezos launched the Bezos Day One Fund with a $2 billion commitment split between the Day 1 Families Fund (helping homeless families find permanent housing) and the Day 1 Academies Fund (building tuition-free Montessori-inspired preschools in low-income communities). Since 2018, the Day 1 Families Fund has issued 280+ leadership awards totaling over $850 million to organizations across all 50 states. In December 2025, Bezos donated $11.25 million to fight homelessness in the Washington DC area.

In 2018, Stripe donated $1 million to California YIMBY, a pro-housing development lobbying organization. CEO Patrick Collison said the donation was made 'because we think broad policy change will make the most meaningful, widespread and long-term difference in the state's housing crisis, by allowing developers to build more housing – specifically lower-cost, higher-density housing.'

In December 2016, companies controlled by Mark Zuckerberg filed eight 'quiet title' lawsuits targeting hundreds of Native Hawaiians who held small parcels of ancestral kuleana land within his 700-acre Kauai estate purchased for $100 million. The lawsuits sought forced public auctions of these parcels, some dating to the 1850s. A Change.org petition opposing the suits gathered over 378,000 signatures. Critics called it 'neocolonialism.' Zuckerberg withdrew the lawsuits on January 27, 2017, apologizing and stating 'it's clear we made a mistake.' He subsequently donated millions to local organizations and continued acquiring additional land, expanding his holdings to roughly 1,500 acres.

Airbnb listings diverted housing stock from long-term tenants to short-term rentals, reducing homes available for residents and driving up rent and property prices. In Toronto alone, the platform eliminated approximately 6,500 homes from the housing market according to a Fairbnb report. Critics alleged that in dozens of cities worldwide, the service 'hyper-accelerates affordable housing crises and gentrification patterns that force out residents.' CEO Brian Chesky acknowledged there is 'absolutely merit to the concerns.' Cities including New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles enacted regulations limiting short-term rentals to protect housing availability.