Amazon Creates $2 Billion Housing Fund Targeting Its Top Locations

Amazon has launched a new Housing Equity Fund, bankrolled by more than $2 billion, “to preserve and create 20,000 affordable housing units” in areas the retailer expects to have more than 5,000 employees. They are: Arlington, Va.; Nashville, Tenn.; and Washington state’s Puget Sound region, the company said in a press release.

The new program will “help local families achieve long-term stability while building strong, inclusive communities,” said Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and CEO.

The release said the fund would offer “below-market loans and grants to housing partners, traditional and non-traditional public agencies, and minority-led organizations. The fund underscores Amazon’s commitment to affordable housing and will help ensure that moderate- to low-income families can afford housing in resource-rich communities with easy access to neighborhood services, amenities, and jobs,” the company added.

The housing fund’s first round, the release said, will include “$381.9 million in below-market loans and grants to the Washington Housing Conservancy to preserve and create up to 1,300 affordable homes” in Arlington. In addition, the fund will commit $185.5 million in below-market loans and grants to King County Housing Authority to preserve up to 1,000 affordable homes in Washington state.

“Amazon has a long-standing commitment to helping people in need, including the Mary’s Place family shelter we built inside our Puget Sound headquarters. The shelter now supports over 200 women and children experiencing homelessness every night,” Bezos said.

The release said Amazon is targeting households making between 30 percent and 80 percent of an area’s median income. In the Washington, D.C. metro area, this would mean a household of four earning less than $79,600 a year, for example. In the Seattle area, it would target a household of four earning less than $95,250 a year.

Amazon’s new program comes at a time when many Americans are finding it harder to grab hold of the American Dream and buy a new home. After the pandemic crisis hit, a survey by the Pew Research Center found that one-third of millennials had been laid off due to COVID-19. Another 42 percent said their pay had been cut. The poll of nearly 5,000 people, ages 24 to 38, was conducted from April 7 to 12.