Robert Croak

speaker

6,227 appearances 37 recordings 1 series first heard Jun 2026 last heard yesterday

Robert Croak’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

Trend

recordings per month · last 12 months

Recordings per month over the last 12 months — 37 in all, peaking in Aug 2026 with 13.

Appearances

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Rich Habits Podcast · AI Safety Fears, Fed Rate Hikes, & Airbnb's $250M Housing Fund · 18 Sep 2026 podcast

I'm a little skeptical because I looked it up when we were writing this, and Airbnb is sitting on 12 billion in cash, and they're willing to give up 250 million dollars towards this uh this problem. podcast-host

So I think it's a great start, but I'd love to see them do more and commit more around the country. podcast-host

Because if you look at it over a decade, Airbnb expects its $250 million. podcast-host

To translate into $5 billion of actual construction capital once recouped funds get reinvested into new projects, a 20 times multiplier if it works as designed. podcast-host

And the timing isn't random on this, Austin. podcast-host

Rising interest rates are precisely why these deals stopped penciling out in the first place. podcast-host

And Sean Donovan, HUD secretary under Obama, and now CEO. podcast-host

Of enterprise community partners laid out the mechanism plainly: quote, you're not going to be able to charge more for the rents because it's affordable housing. podcast-host

Yeah, here's the number puts this all in perspective. podcast-host

Estimates of the total US housing shortage range from 2 million to 10 million units, according to Donovan. podcast-host

And even at the most optimistic 20 times multiplier, Airbnb's $5 billion in eventual capital is a rounding error against a shortage that could require tens of billions of dollars, maybe more, to close that gap. podcast-host

Alongside the capital, podcast-host

The company is launching an open source data set tracking housing policy nationwide and a $5 million competition for tech that simplifies actually building homes, betting that zoning and permitting reform matters as much as the money. podcast-host

And I really like that part of this more than anything because everyone I talk to around the country that are builders that are in real estate. podcast-host

like myself all struggle with the local zoning and permitting in some areas Austin take up to year, 18 months to get the zoning approved and finished. podcast-host

And they need to fix that. podcast-host

We live in a world with a lot of technology. podcast-host

It should never take a year to 18 months to get that done. podcast-host

I mean, you remember vividly, we talked about this at length in the Rich Habits Network when I was trying to do the tiny home affordable housing community in Toledo, Ohio. podcast-host

There was a perfect site that would hold 90 homes. podcast-host

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