Amazon has vowed to allocate $147 million toward efforts to ease the affordable housing crisis in Washington, D.C., committing to help build or renovate more than 1,200 units for middle- to low-income residents.
The company will partner with a dozen developers in the district area to fund the construction of more than 1,200 units through Amazon’s Housing Equity Fund, a program created to preserve affordable housing and “create inclusive housing developments” for low-income residents. The money will go toward eight separate projects in the D.C. area, with many focusing on accessibility and proximity to public transit.
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“By working with these diverse development organizations, we can create long-lasting and inclusive affordable housing closer to public transit and other amenities that will improve quality of life for residents,” said Catherine Buell, director of the housing fund, in a statement. “We’ll also help ensure families across Washington, D.C., are not displaced from their communities.”
The money comes as Amazon continues to build its second headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, which is scheduled to open in 2023. Although the new location is expected to create thousands more jobs, some housing activists and government officials have aired concerns it will attract an influx of well-paid employees to the area, which in turn will increase housing costs in the D.C. area.
The announcement also builds on Mayor Muriel Bowser’s goal of creating 36,000 new housing units in the district by 2025, with an emphasis on expanding affordable housing units in wealthier neighborhoods that have historically discriminated against low-income renters. That effort is separate from Amazon’s Housing Equity Fund.
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“Today is about partnership, commitment, and perseverance,” Bowser said. “Partnership with Amazon, the National Housing Trust, WMATA, and our community partners. A commitment to build 36,000 new homes by 2025, with at least 12,000 of them affordable. And perseverance from the families who stuck with us and will soon be able to return home to this location — and what a location it is.”
The $147 million investment will go toward eight different projects in six of the wards in Washington, D.C., and another three in Fairfax, Montgomery, and Prince George’s counties. The announcement builds on previous investments the company has made in the district’s housing market, bringing its total commitment to $992 million going toward building 6,200 affordable homes.
