Robert Croak

speaker

6,616 appearances 39 recordings 1 series first heard Jun 2026 last heard 2d ago

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 — 39 in all, peaking in Aug 2026 with 13.

Appearances

newest first · ▶ plays the moment

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

And this week, CEO Brian Chesky decided to stop playing defense and start writing checks instead. podcast-host

And I'm excited about this one. podcast-host

So take it away. podcast-host

Yeah, definitely. podcast-host

And the first project, so roughly 200 affordable units in Austin, Texas, is sitting on a 20-acre site that used to be a Home Depot and a car dealership that's been sitting vacant for a decade after the city bought it. podcast-host

An Airbnb's specific check for that project is $6.4 million. podcast-host

Chesky didn't dress up the motive. podcast-host

Quote, I've just lived in the crosshairs of podcast-host

of the number one political issue in most major cities in America, and I can't stare at the problem for much longer without Airbnb trying to offer up some solutions. podcast-host

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

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