Google and Housing Trust Silicon Valley have expanded their partnership with the Launch Initiative, a new fund aimed at creating and preserving affordable homes.
The latest effort, announced a year after Google’s $50 million investment in the Housing Trust’s TECH Fund, doubles the size of the collaboration, bringing the total partnership between the two organizations to $100 million.
Housing Trust is a nonprofit community loan fund based in San Jose and working throughout the greater San Francisco Bay Area.
The Launch Initiative aims to enhance its lending capacity and provide Housing Trust and Google opportunities to invest in a broader range of affordable housing projects. Over 10 years, it is projected to support 4,000 homes in addition to the work underway through Google’s earlier investment in the TECH Fund.
Launch Initiative has kicked off by investing in the creation of 150 homes across two developments—Alum Rock in San Jose by Charities Housing and Newark Timber in Alameda County by Eden Housing in Alameda County.
“This remarkable new partnership builds on the strengths of both organizations and has the potential to grow well beyond its initial scope,” said Julie Mahowald, interim CEO of the Housing Trust. “We are grateful for Google’s steadfast commitment to find creative ways to inject the capital needed for more affordable housing.”
Officials said funds from Google’s TECH Fund investment has generated predevelopment lending for 496 homes across several projects in the region.
