MacKenzie Scott Gives $30M for Bay Area Affordable Housing

Billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott has given $30 million to pay for affordable housing in the Bay Area.

The ex-wife of Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos donated the money to Housing Trust Silicon Valley, a San Jose-based nonprofit that supports the development of affordable housing across the region, the San Jose Mercury News reported.

A Yield Giving initiative was established by Scott after she announced her divorce from Bezos in 2019. Since then, she has donated $17.3 billion to more than 2,300 nonprofits from education and the arts to equity and health, according to her website.

The housing trust didn’t say how many affordable homes might result from Scott’s donation.

“The $30 million gift will allow Housing Trust to accelerate its work and scale efforts to address the region’s growing affordable housing crisis,” the organization said in a statement.

The nonprofit said early ideas for the funds include seeding a new capital campaign for its loan fund, expanding programs and initiatives “to deepen partnerships and foster greater equity and affordability in housing.”

The trust hasn’t decided which Bay Area cities will benefit from the donation, but it will support housing projects across the nine-county region.

The nonprofit focuses on funding new affordable housing projects through a public-private partnership model and first-time homebuyer assistance.

Housing Trust Silicon Valley, founded in 2000, has helped finance housing projects across the region, including the Meridian Apartments in Sunnyvale, Sango Court in Milpitas, Casa Sueños in Oakland and Kifer Senior Apartments in Santa Clara.

The trust has invested $615 million to create more than 50,900 affordable homes for the region’s workforce, families, seniors and special needs residents, according to its website.

Cities and counties across the Bay Area are required by the state to plan for 441,176 homes by 2031 to meet rising demand.

— Dana Bartholomew