This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Angel Crawford, who owns 18 rental properties in northeastern Louisiana and runs a third-party website connecting tenants with property owners. Construction for Meta's largest-ever AI data center has begun in Holly Ridge, an unincorporated community about 10 minutes away from her home in Delhi. My husband and I have been in Delhi for four years. We're originally from this area, but we've moved around because of our nursing careers. I was a quality manager, and my husband was a director of case management. We were empty nesters looking for something to do, so we started with real estate and rentals because they are very much needed in this area. It's very rural here, so when there are fluctuating prices in the market, it doesn't really hit us because there are never enough houses for sale or rent. In 2024, we started buying older houses that had been on the market for a long time or needed a lot of work. We had a vision to create a mobile home park and already purchased some land when we heard about Meta's data center. That's what pushed us to keep going forward. We understood there wasn't enough housing for residents, and our dream of building more multifamily houses was right in line to do that. Around here, people feel one way or the other about the data center. Either people are excited about the opportunities, or they hate it. There's no in between. I see it as an opportunity for us to have more experiences in our area and jobs for our children, so they can stay here instead of moving away. We began Parish Line Properties, which now operates 18 properties, in 2024. I also created StayNELA, a third-party website to connect listing agents with tenants, in 2025. Meta数据中心对房地产的影响 Parish Line Properties拥有18套住房，其中14套是劳动力住房。
地点对Meta的员工来说非常重要，因为他们每周工作六到七天，每天工作12个小时以上。他们早上30点左右出门，晚上7点才回家。
我的租户告诉我的一个重要问题是，如果他们住在达拉斯，上班路程有30英里，大约需要30分钟。但在农村地区，30英里可能需要60分钟，因为要经过许多小路和小城镇。他们离工作地点越近越好。
距离数据中心八英里的一套设施齐全的四卧两卫住宅，月租平均为3000美元。以这个价格把这些房子租出去，我完全没有问题。在Meta到来之前，同一地区一套不带家具的房子月租大概在1200到1500美元之间。
我们已经向本地的长期租户保证不会涨租。这不是我们的作风。我们不会让本地租户陷入困境。我们会寻找不同的新房产，来帮助解决劳动力住房问题。
我们的Antley Pines移动房屋公园于2025年12月开业。去年12月我们增加了两套住宅，今年5月增加了四套，7月又增加了最后四套。所有这些住宅在还没被安置进园区之前，就已经靠Meta员工的押金被租下了。
另外，我创建了 StayNELA，因为对于不是本地人的人来说，能找到出租房源的资源并不多。我花了几个月时间做了大量调研，开车在该地区转悠，查看人们院子里或四向停车路口处那些你根本看不清的各种牌子。我做了记录，拍了照片，并把它们保存在手机上的一个文件夹里。如果 Facebook 上有任何关于出租的信息，我都会保存下来。
当我最终迈出这一步去设计一个网页时，我联系了我通过电话号码、Facebook 帖子和房源信息找到的所有人。我不是房地产经纪人，所以我是在帮人们做广告。当我列出某处房产时，我会附上房主的电话号码，这样潜在租客就可以直接联系那栋房子的房主。我的目标是弥合这一缺口，帮助那些从其他州来这里找出租房的人。
Meta数据中心对当地经济的影响。我们移动房屋公园里的每栋房子占地四分之一英亩。Meta离开后，我们可以单独出售或出租它们。
我们看到很多自助洗衣店、房车公园和移动房屋公园涌入该地区。这对我们地区的经济非常有利，因为与我们合作过的那些安装电力系统、化粪池系统、管道、碎石等的人都很忙，因为Meta在这里。
例如，现在请人对房产进行测量极其困难，而以前却相当容易。以前，你可以打电话给他们，他们会说：“好的，我大约一周后去给你做测量。”现在，你必须排队等候轮到你。