Amazon will invest $ 2 billion to build affordable housing in these three cities

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The technology giant’s new Equity Fund will invest in low-income moderate-income housing in Seattle, Nashville and Arlington, Virginia, where the company ultimately expects to have at least 5,000 employees each.

“This new $ 2 billion Equity Fund will create or preserve 20,000 affordable homes in the three regions of our headquarters: Arlington, Puget Sound and Nashville,” Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon, said in a communiqué. “It will also help local families achieve long-term stability and, at the same time, build strong and inclusive communities.”

The first investment of more than $ 567 million will go to 1,300 affordable apartments near “HQ2,” Amazon’s new headquarters in Virginia, and up to 1,000 apartments near its Seattle, Washington headquarters.

In Arlington, Amazon said it has invested $ 381.9 million in loans offered below market rates, as well as grants to the Washington Housing Conservancy that will go to 1,300 affordable homes owned by Crystal House. near HQ2. And in Washington, Amazon’s $ 185.5 million investment was earmarked for the King County Housing Authority to preserve up to 1,000 affordable homes. in Bellevue.

Amazon has been criticized in the past for gentrifying areas where it has opened large operations and raising the cost of housing.
Several cities competed aggressively to become HQ2’s new home, with Arlington, Virginia, and Long Island City, Queens, New York finally winning the bid for a split headquarters in 2018.
But the reaction from community leaders and local government officials in Queens eventually led Amazon to withdraw from New York. Local officials said at the time that Amazon showed little interest in talks about things like traffic congestion and rising housing costs that may have come along with thousands of well-paid tech workers in Queens .

Amazon says its new approach is designed to help low- and middle-income families in areas they currently call home.

In each of the three regions, the company targets households that generate between 30% and 80% of the area’s average income.

In addition to its $ 2 billion investment, the fund also includes $ 125 million in grants to minority-led organizations and public agencies aimed at improving the shortage of affordable housing, which disproportionately affects people of color. said Amazon.

The fund will also provide grants to government partners, such as traffic agencies and school districts, to help working families in these fields.

“In booming U.S. cities, many affordable apartment buildings for teachers, health care providers, transit workers, and others with modest incomes are increasingly being redeveloped into luxury apartments, causing displacement and reducing housing options. housing for working families, ”Sarah Rosen Wartell, president of the Urban Institute, said in a statement.

“Investments such as those announced by Amazon that help preserve these existing buildings and maintain moderate rental levels are critical to local efforts that promote economic inclusion and support the stability and economic mobility of low- and moderate-income families.” .

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