Google LLC will invest $1 billion to build houses in the San Francisco Bay Area, the company announced Tuesday.

The housing crisis and homelessness in the area has largely been blamed on the tech industry for how it has pushed up the price of housing by creating so many jobs in the area. According to the Bay Area Council Economic Institute, many thousands of people now have been forced to commute long distances because they have been priced out of the area.

In a letter Tuesday, Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai said the company needed to be a better neighbor. Pichai admitted that tech firms had helped create the housing crisis by driving up prices, and so the $1 billion should help rectify some problems.

“The lack of new supply, combined with the rising cost of living, has resulted in a severe shortage of affordable housing options for long-time middle and low income residents,” said Pichai. “As Google grows throughout the Bay Area — whether it’s in our hometown of Mountain View, in San Francisco, or in our future developments in San Jose and Sunnyvale — we’ve invested in developing housing that meets the needs of these communities.”

Pichai said that over the next decade, Google will repurpose around $750 million of company land. That will turn former commercial space into residential areas, creating about 15,000 homes for what he called “long-time middle and low income residents.” These won’t be large plots of single houses, but most likely apartment blocks.

The remaining $250 million will go toward an investment fund to support incentives for developers to build at least 5,000 affordable housing units. A further $50 million will be given in grants to nonprofit organizations working with the homeless and displaced.

Google said the idea is for this to be done as fast possible and to be economically sound. The company hopes that the first homes will be ready to move into within the next few years.

California Governor Gavin Newsom said he applauds Google’s efforts to address the housing crisis, adding, “I hope today’s announcement inspires other companies — big and small — to make similar direct investments in housing affordability throughout our state.”

Image: Nicolas Raymond/Flickr