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Comment by skybrian | Hacker News Reader

I'm pretty sure that's not how it works. Despite being located next to Google or Facebook, these will likely be apartments being rented out like anywhere else with no particular employment requirements.

Though, they're likely to be attractive to employees who want to live within walking distance.

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>Facebook employees… receive a five-figure bonus if they live near the office.

Sure your rent doesn't actually go up, but you are going to need to get a job that pays pretty well.

Yes but rent is high anywhere in Silicon Valley. We're talking highly paid software engineers with Facebook on their resume in a place with plentiful jobs within biking distance. These are the last renters you need to worry about.

If that were the case, what would be the incentive for FB to do this then?

There’s a housing crisis and employees are affected. If they want more people to work at Menlo Park, they need to address it.

because "they're likely to be attractive to employees who want to live within walking distance.", which is good for retention and recruitment.

Plus, the types of companies we're talking about have wads of cash that they're not returning to shareholders (yet). Real estate investments could provide better returns than a a number of other financial instruments. Win-win. :)

I don't know about Facebook, but Google is under pressure to reduce traffic from employee commutes. There's a cap on traffic in North Bayshore, and if some employees walk to work, there's less traffic.

I imagine Facebook has similar considerations. Housing and traffic are major issues in Silicon Valley.

Everywhere in the Bay Area has a severe housing shortage. Even with $150k+ salaries, there are very limited housing options available on the peninsula.

The Bay Area's land-use policies are directly responsible for the absurdly high housing costs and terrible road congestion. Too many jobs are in office parks, too many houses are in far-flung and low-density areas.

If Facebook can build 1000 apartment homes that would allow their employees to walk to work, they stand to benefit in huge ways. If that development can help subsidize 200 apartment homes for people who have been displaced by the skewed housing market, all the better.

At least that's how I read their motivations.

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