What Led Microsoft to Invest $500M in Seattle Housing?

Tech giant Microsoft recently announced an investment of $500 million in affordable housing in the Seattle area. Making the announcement, Brad Smith, President and Chief Legal Officer at Microsoft said that as a company Microsoft, which is headquartered in the neighboring city of Redmond, was very focused for the past 15 years on the health of the region and had "pursued this by focusing on two issues above all else—education and transportation."

Smith said that the changing times have made the company think about expanding their focus to include "the affordability of housing."

To understand the problem of affordable housing in the region, Microsoft partnered with Zillow and the Boston Consulting Group to analyze the need to preserve existing and create new affordable housing units for low- and middle-income households in the Puget Sound region that is comprised of Seattle and nine other surrounding cities, including Redmond.

The analysis found that nurses, police, emergency medical technicians, firefighters, and teachers were among the many people who were challenged to afford a home in the Puget Sound region. Watch the video below to see what this group of people had to say about affordable housing options: