Amazon has pledged more than $2 billion toward affordable housing in three communities across the country. It joins a handful of other affordable housing funds that have come to market recently. 

The company's Housing Equity Fund will preserve and create more than 20,000 affordable housing units through below-market capital in the form of loans, lines of credit, and grants. Its initial focus will be on Washington State's Puget Sound; Arlington, Virginia; and Nashville, Tenn.—all communities where the e-commerce giant has or expects to have at least 5,000 employees in the future. In each of those areas, Amazon is targeting households making between 30% to 80% of the area's median income.

Amazon's first investments include $339.9 million in below-market loans and grants worth $42 million to the nonprofit Washington Housing Conservancy, with an aim toward preserving and creating up to 1,300 affordable homes on the Crystal House property in Arlington's National Landing neighborhood, as well as $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.