AI data centers — specialized facilities designed to process massive amounts of data and house large-scale artificial intelligence operations — have seemingly appeared out of nowhere in the past few years. From Meta to Amazon, the world’s leaders in tech have wasted no time building massive, deleterious structures in rural America.
In the face of an ongoing housing crisis, these data centers wreak havoc on the quality, affordability and sustainability of housing in the United States.
With a shortage of almost seven million affordable homes in the United States and over 70 percent of low-income households spending more than half of their income on housing, demands for governments to incentivize the construction of subsidized housing have never been higher.
Although local governments, especially in urban areas, have made efforts to increase the availability of affordable housing, a lack of sweeping change at the federal level remains. For instance, the Housing Crisis Response Act of 2023, the largest legislation proposed to address the issue that sought to invest over $150 billion into affordable housing, was never passed.
Moreover, without significant government intervention, the American housing crisis will continue to worsen as developers are unlikely to invest in affordable housing projects that are not considered profitable investments without federal incentives.
Despite the overwhelming need for affordable housing in America, federal and state governments have instead decided to incentivize the construction of data centers, offering them large tax breaks and direct investments. Data centers not only consume vast amounts of land that could theoretically be used for housing, but they also demand five million gallons of water per day, equivalent to the amount consumed by a town of up to 50,000 people, making them ecological nightmares.
Since these data centers require so much water and energy, homes close to data centers bear the consequences instead of those building them. They have limited access to potable water, experience more frequent power outages and are subject to increased noise and light pollution.
Georgia couple Beverly and Jeff Morris live 400 yards away from Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta data center and have spoken about the havoc this data center has wreaked on their home. Their kitchen sink doesn’t produce water beyond a few drops tainted with sediment, their toilets do not have enough water to flush and the couple says they can no longer sleep at night because of how bright their home is. The Morris’ have had to spend tens of thousands of dollars to add a well for drinking water access and to replace ruined toilets, faucets and other fixtures.
In a video interview, Beverly stated, “It is overwhelming because you really feel like you are up against this huge wall that you can’t penetrate. There’s nothing that you can do, and they don’t care.”
In Georgia specifically, data centers with an investment value of $15 million are eligible for tax abatement. So, while Zuckerberg receives a tax break, residents across the entire state of Georgia, not just those in proximity to the data center, experience bill increases and devastation to their quality life. For the Morris’, their electricity bill went up by $150 a month after the data center began operation.
It is telling that these massive data centers are specifically being built across regions in rural America that already face economic strife, especially when it comes to housing. Construction costs tend to be higher in rural areas, making it even less appealing for developers to build subsidized housing, which is already considered a bad investment.
Despite their heavy environmental toll, some struggling regions have embraced AI data centers as lifelines of economic investment. Morrow County, Oregon, for example, handed Jeff Bezos a staggering $1 billion in tax breaks over 15 years to secure his data centers.
While it is true that data centers create jobs and bring investment to rural communities, their effect on housing cannot be ignored. Even though urban areas face the greatest challenges when it comes to a lack of affordable housing, these issues are now trickling into rural areas at the same time as these data centers are popping up.
It might be pure coincidence that data centers and a rural housing crisis developed at the same time, but there is no denying that data centers only stand to make housing development and affordability more difficult in rural areas.
It is truly devastating that at a moment when America urgently needs affordable housing, resources are instead being funneled into data centers that divert investment and potentially erase the very possibility of building these homes.
Antonia Kladias, a senior majoring in biochemistry, is Pipe Dream’s opinions editor.
Views expressed in the opinions pages represent the opinions of the columnists. The only piece that represents the view of the Pipe Dream Editorial Board is the Staff Editorial.