Google Backs San Jose Housing Project as Part of Funding Pledge

Google is providing a $5.3 million loan to The Kelsey, a two-year-old nonprofit that's seeking to develop affordable housing for people with disabilities. From a report: The financing will help jump-start a development in San Jose, the first specific project that the tech giant has backed since announcing a $250 million fund dedicated to addressing the San Francisco Bay Area's affordable housing shortage. As Google and other tech titans look to alleviate a situation that they're often blamed for exacerbating, many of the details of their initiatives are still being ironed out. While the low-interest loan to The Kelsey is relatively small, Google said the investment is a model for its future work. Google is also lending its name to an organization with fresh ideas on housing, according to Chris Taylor, Google's finance lead for affordable housing investing. "We're a big entity and people assume we did a lot of due diligence -- which we did -- and, hopefully, that's a feather in their cap," he said. Google said earlier this year that it was committing $1 billion to easing a regional housing crisis.