Amazon Adds $1.4 Billion to Housing Equity Fund to Create and Preserve an Additional 14,000 Affordable Homes
Amazon today announced that it is committing an additional $1.4 billion in funding to the Amazon Housing Equity Fund, bringing the total to more than $3.6 billion to fund more than 35,000 affordable homes across the Puget Sound region; the Arlington, Virginia/National Capital region; and Nashville, Tennessee. The extension of the Housing Equity Fund underscores Amazon's commitment to affordable housing and to helping thousands of families live closer to where they work or near transportation hubs, removing a major barrier to success.
In January 2021, Amazon launched the $2 billion Housing Equity Fund with the goal of creating and preserving 20,000 affordable homes across three of its hometown communities within five years. The Fund is designed to help moderate- to low-income residents access quality affordable housing. Amazon also announced today that it has exceeded its original goal two years early by providing $2.2 billion to create and preserve more than 21,000 affordable homes.
"We created the Amazon Housing Equity Fund to preserve and create homes that will remain affordable for the next century, ensuring families can stay in their communities for generations to come," said Amazon CEO Andy Jassy. "We hope that our additional commitment ? coupled with other public and private resources ? will help make a meaningful difference for thousands more people and enable these regions to thrive."
The Housing Equity Fund supports affordable housing developments focused on households that earn 30% to 80% of the area median income. That often includes first responders, teachers, health care workers, and others who may not typically qualify for subsidies but whose wages haven't kept pace with escalating rents.
Amazon is also intentional about creating greater economic equity by supporting diverse-led developers through the Amazon Housing Equity Accelerator, a free, eighteen-month program, designed to foster the careers of diverse real estate developers while lowering the barriers they often face. Amazon has invested over $25 million to support the program, which has graduated 38 diverse developers to date. Amazon is continuing to fund this program as part of today's announcement.
The Housing Equity Fund's Positive Impacts
The 21,000 homes that the Fund has already helped to create and preserve will enable more than 46,000 residents to access affordable housing, and the majority of this housing will remain affordable for a century. The Fund is also designed to place this housing in areas that will positively impact these residents' quality of life. For example, 92% of homes funded are near bus or rail stations to reduce transportation costs. In addition, while many new multi-family developments today consist primarily of studio and 1-bedroom units, 41% of the homes funded so far have two or more bedrooms to serve families.
Here's a snapshot of the progress to date across the Fund's three communities:
- Helping create and preserve 9,500+ homes across the National Capital region and increasing Arlington, VA's affordable housing stock by 23%.
- Funding a total of 8,600+ homes across the Puget Sound region in Washington and increasing affordable housing stock by 30% in Bellevue, WA.
- Funding over 3,100 affordable homes across the Nashville, TN region.
- Funding 32% of the projects in partnership with diverse-led developers from these communities.
Finding New Ways to Support Affordable Housing
While the initial $2.2 billion primarily supported affordable rental housing, the Housing Equity Fund is also piloting other ways to increase access to affordable housing. For example, in 2023 Amazon funded a $40 million program to make it easier for moderate-income residents to become homeowners, with the goal of creating generational wealth for historically underserved communities. Going forward, Amazon will continue to pursue new ways for the Fund to create positive housing outcomes for low- to moderate-income residents.
Read the Amazon Housing Equity Fund impact report here and visit www.amazonhousingequity.com to learn more.
About Amazon
Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Amazon strives to be Earth's Most Customer-Centric Company, Earth's Best Employer, and Earth's Safest Place to Work. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Career Choice, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, Alexa, Just Walk Out technology, Amazon Studios, and The Climate Pledge are some of the things pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit amazon.com/about and follow @AmazonNews.
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