A new affordable housing project named Colibri Commons is on the horizon in East Palo Alto, offering 136 units tailored for those with more modest budgets in Silicon Valley. This development marks a milestone as the first recipient in San Mateo County of funding from the Stanford Affordable Housing Fund, a collaboration between San Mateo and Santa Clara counties and Stanford University.

The fund is committed to financing residences within a six-mile radius of the Stanford campus, and construction for Colibri Commons is slated to kick off towards the end of 2023. Ray Hodges, Director of the Department of Housing, emphasized the innovative cross-border cooperation to address housing challenges arising from a major regional employer, as stated in a San Mateo County announcement.

This initiative is a victory for individuals facing the struggle of finding affordable housing in one of the nation's most expensive areas, where tech giants dominate the landscape. The project aims to alleviate the impact of tech campuses on local living costs, providing a potential model for collaboration between counties and major tech contributors for the benefit of the community.