housing
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Meta settles US lawsuit over housing discrimination
Facebook's parent company has settled a US government lawsuit accusing it of housing discrimination.
Airbnb offers free housing for up to 100,000 Ukrainian refugees
More than 300,000 people have fled the country after Russia invaded.
IKEA will help turn a Swedish city into a sustainable community
IKEA is moving beyond the confines of the eco-friendly home to work on sustainable urban living. The flat-pack giant is partnering with the municipality of Helsingborg in its native Sweden on a green community project, known as H22, that takes in agriculture, retail and housing. In the Drottninghög suburb, IKEA will help establish an urban farming marketplace with an eye to upskilling residents and creating new jobs and businesses.
Google is granting another $4 million towards affordable Bay Area housing
Last year, Google committed $1 billion towards addressing the lack of affordable housing in the Bay Area, acknowledging that as one of the largest employers in the region it has a responsibility to help. In its announcement today, Google also shared more on what it calls its “housing first” approach to the homelessness crisis. Google said its housing first approach prioritizes giving people safe and stable shelter before they can get other support like “mental health care, drug rehab, food assistance, or job training programs.”
Apple will spend $400 million on affordable housing this year
Apple will spend more than $400 million on affordable housing projects and first-time homebuyer assistance programs in California this year.
Airbnb hosts can volunteer to house COVID-19 responders
Airbnb is dealing with COVID-19 cancellations by providing support to people on the front lines of the pandemic. It's launching a worldwide initiative that will let hosts opt in to offering free or subsidized housing to healthcare workers, first responders and other crucial staff who may need to live closer to where they're offering help. The company will partner with governments, businesses, nonprofit groups and emergency agencies to help them find hosts, while home owners who volunteer will have a cleanliness protocol to follow to minimize the chances of the coronavirus spreading.
Apple pledges $2.5 billion to address California's housing crisis
Apple is joining Facebook, Google and Microsoft in acknowledging that tech companies are contributing to housing problems. It's pledging a total of $2.5 billion toward more available (and importantly, more accessible) housing in California. Most of this will go directly toward lowering costs. It's launching a $1 billion affordable housing investment fund, and another $1 billion fund for first-time homebuyer mortgage assistance. The company is also committing $300 million to make some of its San Jose land available for affordable housing, creating a $150 million fund for San Francisco Bay Area housing and donating $50 million to Destination: Home in order to foster "systemic change" that reduces homelessness across Silicon Valley.
Zillow's 3D home tours are available across North America
You might have an easier time getting a feel for a home the next time you're looking for a new place to live. Zillow has finally made its 3D home tours available across the US and Canada, letting real estate agents spice up their listings through an iOS app. The basic concept remains the same -- sellers create 360-degree panoramas of rooms (either with an iPhone or though a Ricoh Theta V or Z1 camera) and let the app stitch them together to create a "seamless" tour. It's not a VR tour, but it could help you save the in-person visits for the homes that truly catch your eye.
Facebook limits ad targeting following discrimination settlement
Facebook has settled the lawsuit accusing the company of violating housing discrimination law through its ad system, and it's making changes to reduce the chances of future issues with housing ads and beyond. Marketers who want to run ads for credit, employment or housing will no longer have options to target using age, gender or ZIP code. They'll also have a "much smaller" range of categories to use in the first place, and won't have access to "detailed" targeting that relates to protected social classes. As a user, you'll eventually have access to a tool to search for housing ads targeted at locations across the US, even if you wouldn't normally see them.
Microsoft pledges $500 million to help Seattle's housing crisis
Microsoft is putting its massive balance sheet to good use by pledging $500 million to help address the housing crisis in the greater Seattle area. According to The New York Times, it's the most ambitious effort by a tech company to solve housing and homelessness issues brought about by inequality in regions where the tech industry is concentrated. Seattle, as you know, also serves as home to Amazon. The booming tech sector in the city and its surrounding areas has driven up costs of living so much, a lot of people -- including individuals the city needs, such as teachers, nurses and first responders -- are getting priced out.
Beijing uses face-detecting smart locks to curb public housing abuses
China's ever-growing reliance on facial recognition is spreading to public housing. Beijing is ramping up the use of face-detecting smart locks in public housing projects to bolster security for tenants (such as denying access to strangers) and crack down on abuses like illegal sublets. It even asks management to check on senior residents if they haven't entered or left their homes after a certain period of time.
Google's Mountain View development plans include affordable housing
Google is still tweaking its Mountain View expansion plans, and the public just got a clearer glimpse of what those changes could entail. The city has published a Google development proposal for the North Bayshore area that would at least partially address the San Francisco Bay Area's housing problems. The 3.12 million square foot project would include up to 8,000 new residential units, 6,600 of which would sit on Google's own land. About 20 percent of those would be marked as affordable housing, including rental units that could be affordable for individuals making $44,000 per year.
California gives final approval to code requiring solar on new homes
While there was little doubt it would happen, it's now a done deal: California will require solar panels on most new homes. Officials at a December 5th Building Standards Commission meeting have voted for the new code, providing the last bit of approval necessary for the policy to take effect. New homes, condos and low-rise apartments will need eco-friendly power generation on their rooftops from January 1st, 2020 onward. The only exclusions are for homes that are either blocked by taller objects (like trees and tall buildings) or don't have room for panels.
Airbnb’s next project is building houses
Back in 2016, Airbnb created an innovation lab called Samara, which was focused on rethinking housing and urban planning. Now, Samara has announced its new initiative -- a project dubbed Backyard that will "prototype new ways that homes can be built and shared." "Backyard isn't a house, it's an initiative to rethink the home," Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia told Fast Company. "Homes are complex, and we're taking a broad approach -- not just designing one thing, but a system that can do many things."
Airbnb is suing NYC to keep from sharing host data
In a role-reversal, Airbnb is the one suing a city, and it's doing so to protect its hosts' privacy. In July, the New York City Council passed a regulation forcing short-term rental services to hand over hosts' names and addresses every month to help a civic crackdown on illegal listings. Airbnb's lawsuit against NYC alleges that the new law violates its users' constitutional rights.
Facebook hit with federal complaint over discriminatory housing ads
Despite past efforts, Facebook hasn't avoided federal-level trouble over allegations it enabled discriminatory housing ads. The Department of Housing and Urban Development has officially filed a complaint against Facebook, accusing the social network of violating the Fair Housing Act. HUD claimed that Facebook's ad personalization let advertisers redline ZIP codes and exclude people based on gender, race, religion, accessibility, national origins and even parental status. The company was limiting home choices for protected classes "under the guise" of targeted ads, HUD said.
Wells Fargo says hundreds lost homes after computing 'error'
Software mistakes are normally little more than inconveniences, but they had particularly serious consequences for some Wells Fargo customers. An SEC filing from the bank has revealed that a "calculation error" in its mortgage loan modification underwriting tool led to about 625 customers either being denied loan changes or not receiving offers when they would have qualified. Roughly 400 of those customers eventually lost their homes to foreclosure, Wells Fargo said. The bank stressed in a statement to CNN Money that the bug didn't necessarily cause the foreclosures, but it certainly didn't help.
Facebook deal with Washington ends ad filtering for ethnicity
Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced today that Facebook has signed an agreement that will prevent advertisers promoting housing, credit, employment, insurance or businesses open to the public from excluding individuals from seeing their ads based on that person's race, creed, color, national origin, veteran or military status, sexual orientation or disability status. The agreement concludes a 20-month investigation conducted by the state's attorney general's office. While the deal makes these changes legally binding in the state of Washington, Facebook already implemented them broadly back in April.
Airbnb lets hosts offer their homes for future emergencies
Airbnb hosts have long had the opportunity to offer free housing during emergencies. What about making yourself available ahead of time? If you live in the right area, you're set. The home rental service is launching a pilot program that will let San Jose residents put themselves on a standby list before there's even a hint of a crisis. The move should speed up the community's response in the event of a crisis, ensuring that stranded people don't have to wait for shelters over their heads.
California to require solar panels on most new homes
There's no question that solar power is entering the mainstream, but California is about to give it a giant boost. The state's Energy Commission is expected to approve new energy standards that would require solar panels on the roofs of nearly all new homes, condos and apartment buildings from 2020 onward. There will be exemptions for homes that either can't fit solar panels or would be blocked by taller buildings or trees, but you'll otherwise have to go green if your property is brand new.
