Microsoft pledges $500M to tackle Seattle housing crisis

SEATTLE (AP) — Microsoft says it will devote $500 million to address a problem its own success helped create: the severe need for affordable housing in the Seattle area.

As the tech industry Microsoft brought to the region has boomed with the expansion of Amazon and other companies, the cost of housing has soared. Tent encampments packed with homeless people have become common, and even those with good middle-income jobs, such as teachers and nurses, have been priced out of the cities where they work.

"A healthy business needs to be part of a healthy community," Microsoft President Brad Smith and Chief Financial Officer Amy Hood wrote in a blog post announcing the financial commitment.