Amazon Commits to Building Affordable Homes in Puget Sound, DC

Amazon has committed $300 million to build 1,060 new affordable homes in Washington, D.C., and Central Puget Sound, as part of its ongoing, billion-dollar commitment to create affordable homes in key transit areas. 

This week it has announced it will invest over $124.4 million to build 1,060 affordable homes near four public transit sites, working in partnership with the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (Metro) and Sound Transit, the transit system serving the Central Puget Sound region of Washington state, to complete the housing developments. 

The new deals stem from Amazon’s $300 million transit commitment from 2021 in collaboration with the transit agencies in each region.

Puts Workers in Employment Centers

Teaming up with public transit authorities is an example of the Amazon Housing Equity Fund tackling the affordable housing crisis on multiple fronts, according to Catherine Buell, director of the Amazon Housing Equity Fund.

The fund made a more than $2 billion commitment to create and preserve 20,000 affordable homes for individuals and families earning moderate to low incomes in Washington state’s Puget Sound region; the Arlington, Virginia region; and Nashville.

“We know that our investment in these areas brings many economic opportunities for residents in the region, but we also acknowledge that this growth needs to benefit everyone in the community,” she said in prepared remarks. “The progress we have made in our first year is promising, but we have more to do.”

An Ongoing Effort to Fight Rising Rents

Since the launch of the Amazon Housing Equity Fund in January 2021, Amazon has invested more than $1.2 billion to create or preserve over 8,000 affordable homes for families earning between 30% to 80% of area median income (AMI), including first responders, teachers, and service industry employees whose wages haven’t kept pace with escalating rents. 

For each Amazon-funded affordable home, rents will be maintained at levels affordable for low- and moderate-income families (generally for 98 to 99 years), and rents will only rise with wage growth as determined by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. 

Based on the average rental household size in the zip codes of funded Amazon initiatives, the newly affordable homes will support an estimated 18,000 people across all three regions, nearly a quarter of whom are children. All 8,000 units are or will be within a 10-minute walk to public transit; this ensures that moderate- to low-income families can afford to live near—and benefit from—quality public transit.