Amazon has reached a milestone of 10,000 affordable housing units funded in Seattle’s Puget Sound region, part of the $2 billion Housing Equity Fund the online retail giant launched in 2021.
The announcement coincides with the opening of Connection Angle Lake — a 130-unit development from Mercy Housing built with the help of a $17 million low-interest loan and a $2 million grant from Amazon.
“Here at home, 10,000 units is a big milestone,” Alice Shobe, global director of Amazon Community Impact, told The Seattle Times. “We set out early to move quickly and we did. I think the payoff of those 10,000 units is going to show especially in decades to come when those 99 years of affordability are required and we’re not flipping over housing as quickly.”
Amazon’s fund originally pledged to support 20,000 units across Seattle, Nashville and Arlington, Virginia — cities where the company has a sizable presence — but the company said last year it had already surpassed the target by funding 21,000 units.
Since then, Amazon has added another $1.4 billion commitment to create 14,000 more homes.
In the Seattle area, the company has backed projects in neighborhoods where residents face displacement pressures.
Beacon Pacific Village — a 160-unit complex that requires tenants to earn between 50% and 60% of the area median income (AMI) — opened last year in front of Amazon’s former headquarters.
“Having housing led by community development organizations provides more culturally entrenched affordable housing for the community,” said Jade Yan, resident services manager at the Seattle Chinatown International District Preservation and Development Authority, which helped develop the project. “It’s just so crucial. Housing means stability and security.”
Most of Amazon’s housing support targets people earning between 50% and 80% of the AMI, which is about $110,000 for an individual in Seattle.
Shobe said the fund intentionally focuses on that range.
“If you look at the workforce in the community, you have a lot of teacher assistants and security guards and other folks that aren’t able to meet the rents that our region has reached,” she said. “So what we did is we really focused on that middle area.”
Other tech companies — including Apple, Meta, Google and Microsoft — have also launched housing funds. Some of these projects have advanced while others stalled due to local regulations, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Amazon has concentrated its developments in Seattle and neighboring Bellevue, with the Times reporting respective totals of 5,216 units and 1,486 units built so far in these cities.
Shobe said the investments have boosted Bellevue’s affordable housing stock by 31%.