*By Chloe Aiello* Inflated housing prices and long commute times in tech hubs nationwide is draining the life out of cities, Microsoft President Brad Smith told Cheddar Thursday following the company's announcement it would invest $500 million to address affordable housing and homelessness in and around Seattle, Wash. "It's really sapping the vitality of our community. We recognize as a business we can only be successful if the community is successful. We need new steps, we took a new step today," Smith said. Microsoft's ($MSFT) commitment includes $225 million invested at below market rate returns for middle-income housing, $250 million invested at market rate returns for low-income housing, as well as an additional $25 million for philanthropic grants to address homelessness. Most of the capital will be deployed within the next three years, according to the company, which is based in nearby Redmond, Wash. "Here in Puget Sound, we are seeing something that we are seeing in a number of tech hubs across the country. Jobs have grown, people have moved in, but housing construction simply has not kept pace," Smith told Cheddar on Thursday. "We've seen big increases in housing prices and what it has really caused is pressure on low and middle-income families." Due to the explosive growth of technology companies headquartered there, like Microsoft and Amazon ($AMZN), the median sale price of homes in the Seattle area have soared an estimated 98 percent from $354,000 in Nov. 2011 to $702,000 in Nov. 2018, [according to Zillow](https://www.zillow.com/seattle-wa/home-values/). "You really need a healthy community," Smith said. "A healthy community needs to have room for everybody to live from all economic backgrounds. A school where the teacher has to drive for two hours before walking into the building is not likely to be as successful as a school where the teacher lives half a mile away." These housing issues aren't unique to Washington. Tech hubs nationwide have seen unprecedented growth, which has put a strain on lower and middle-income residents ー many of whom have been priced out of the areas and forced to endure longer commute times or in the worst cases, homelessness. In some cases, companies have squashed efforts to combat these growing problems. In June, for example, Amazon pressured Seattle City Council to repeal a "head tax” that would have levied a per employee tax on businesses making more than $20 million, [the Atlantic reported](https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/06/how-amazon-helped-kill-a-seattle-tax-on-business/562736/). But others, like Microsoft and [Salesforce](https://cheddar.com/videos/san-franciscos-prop-c-homeless-measure-passed-and-not-everyone-in-tech-is-happy) ($CRM), have made serious efforts to help. "I think to some degree, if you don't bring the community together, if you don't recognize you face a common problem and if you don't fashion a coherent or comprehensive strategy, you end up digging a hole," Smith said. For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/we-can-only-be-successful-if-the-community-is-successful-microsoft-president-says).

Share:
More In Business
Michigan Judge Sentences Walmart Shoplifters to Wash Parking Lot Cars
A Michigan judge is putting sponges in the hands of shoplifters and ordering them to wash cars in a Walmart parking lot when spring weather arrives. Genesee County Judge Jeffrey Clothier hopes the unusual form of community service discourages people from stealing from Walmart. The judge also wants to reward shoppers with free car washes. Clothier says he began ordering “Walmart wash” sentences this week for shoplifting at the store in Grand Blanc Township. He believes 75 to 100 people eventually will be ordered to wash cars this spring. Clothier says he will be washing cars alongside them when the time comes.
State Department Halts Plan to buy $400M of Armored Tesla Vehicles
The State Department had been in talks with Elon Musk’s Tesla company to buy armored electric vehicles, but the plans have been put on hold by the Trump administration after reports emerged about a potential $400 million purchase. A State Department spokesperson said the electric car company owned by Musk was the only one that expressed interest back in May 2024. The deal with Tesla was only in its planning phases but it was forecast to be the largest contract of the year. It shows how some of his wealth has come and was still expected to come from taxpayers.
Goodyear Blimp at 100: ‘Floating Piece of Americana’ Still Thriving
At 100 years old, the Goodyear Blimp is an ageless star in the sky. The 246-foot-long airship will be in the background of the Daytona 500 — flying roughly 1,500 feet above Daytona International Speedway, actually — to celebrate its greatest anniversary tour. Even though remote camera technologies are improving regularly and changing the landscape of aerial footage, the blimp continues to carve out a niche. At Daytona, with the usual 40-car field racing around a 2½-mile superspeedway, views from the blimp aptly provide the scope of the event.
Is U.S. Restaurants’ Breakfast Boom Contributing to High Egg Prices?
It’s a chicken-and-egg problem: Restaurants are struggling with record-high U.S. egg prices, but their omelets, scrambles and huevos rancheros may be part of the problem. Breakfast is booming at U.S. eateries. First Watch, a restaurant chain that serves breakfast, brunch and lunch, nearly quadrupled its locations over the past decade to 570. Fast-food chains like Starbucks and Wendy's added more egg-filled breakfast items. In normal times, egg producers could meet the demand. But a bird flu outbreak that has forced them to slaughter their flocks is making supplies scarcer and pushing up prices. Some restaurants like Waffle House have added a surcharge to offset their costs.
Load More