Subject: AVO
Development Without Displacement Coalition Requests that Big Tech Help Fund Affordable Housing in Austin, Texas
AUSTIN, Texas, Nov. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- On Wednesday, November 20, 2019, at 9:30 am at Austin City Hall Peoples Plaza, Austin community leaders who have formed the Development without Displacement coalition held a press conference to call on Austin's high tech industry to commit $2 billion to fund affordable housing in Austin.
Austin's high tech industry has grown rapidly over the past decade and generated more high-paying jobs than any other industry in the City! In 2018, high tech accounted for about 16% of total employment but almost 31% of total payroll in Austin. The average high-tech salary of $125,000 in Austin is more than twice the median household income of $55, 216 in Austin.
Just like Seattle and San Francisco, the influx of high paying high tech jobs in Austin has unwittingly contributed to surging housing costs in Austin and resulted in involuntary displacement of thousands of low- and middle-income families whose incomes have not kept up with rapidly escalating housing costs.
Early this year, Microsoft announced it would commit $500 million for affordable housing in Seattle and just last week Apple announced it would commit $2.5 billion for affordable housing in San Francisco and Silicon Valley.
The total combined total market value of just eight high tech companies in Austin (Amazon, Apple, Intel, Facebook, Samsung, Google, IBM, and Oracle) is over $4.232 trillion! That's over 6 times the total combined wealth of about $700 billion for the bottom 50% of households (62 million households) in the US!
We call on Austin's high tech industry to step up and commit $2 billion to fund the Peoples Plan, affordable housing, and anti-displacement programs in Austin!
Development Without Displacement Coalition
CONTACT PERSONS: Frank Rodriguez (512-585-7185, [email protected]); David King (512-415-6016, [email protected])
Development Without Displacement Links:
https://eqcities.home.blog/
https://www.facebook.com/eqcities
SOURCE Development Without Displacement Coalition
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