Hasta La Ideas

Just under four years ago, there was lots of discussion over retail giant Ikea‘s plans to build affordable housing in suburban England in a project called BoKlok. While the project was built and all of the units were sold in the UK, it doesn’t seem, at least for the time being, to have caught on as well as it had in places like Germany and the company’s native Sweden. So if you’re left a little glum knowing that you probably won’t be able to live in an Ikea, low-cost home unless you move to another country and learn a new language, fret not. Google has announced that it has partnered with U.S. Bank in building “480 affordable rental housing units for low income families and senior citizens in seven communities throughout the West and Midwest.” While more an investment and philanthropic effort than “Google-designed homes,” should you fit within that bracket of income level, and live in the right area, there’s a chance you could be living in one of their buildings (unfortunately, they probably don’t offer free catered meals like they do in their offices). Here are some details:

The fund includes housing developments in the Midwest, an area where affordable housing investment has lagged in recent years, as well as in the California state where Google’s Mountain View headquarters is based. Many of the complexes include a range of one to four-bedroom apartments, and offer a shared laundry facility and community gathering area. In addition to this USBCDC sponsored fund, Google also recently invested in two other low-income housing projects for senior citizens, one in the San Francisco Bay community of Sunnyvale, and the other in the Los Angeles County community of Inglewood.

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