Amazon CEO Andy Jassy not too long ago introduced that the corporate is including $1.4 billion to its Housing Fairness Fund and has pledged to protect and create a further 14,000 housing items in areas together with Seattle, Nashville, Tenn., and Arlington, Va. This dedication brings the corporate’s whole assist for inexpensive housing to greater than $3.6 billion, funding greater than 35,000 housing items in Amazon’s “hometown communities.” The high-paying tech jobs in these areas have exacerbated financial divides and prompted housing shortages for lower-income residents.
Amazon launched its Housing Fairness Fund in January 2021 with a $2 billion pledge. The fund goals to extend the inexpensive housing stock by below-market loans and grants to public businesses, housing companions, and minority-led organizations. The corporate has surpassed its authentic funding and housing objectives, contributing $2.2 billion and offering greater than 21,000 inexpensive houses for households incomes between 30% and 80% of the realm median earnings. Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell expressed gratitude for Amazon’s assist, highlighting the significance of inexpensive housing initiatives locally.
Organizations working to deploy extra housing, similar to Nice Expectations, an inexpensive housing growth firm in Seattle, have praised Amazon’s efforts in supporting the sector. Amazon has funded greater than 8,600 items within the Seattle space and elevated the inexpensive housing inventory by 30% in Bellevue, Wash., the place it has been increasing its workplace area. Microsoft can be enjoying an vital function within the inexpensive housing sector by serving to builders purchase tax-exempt bonds and offering financing for land acquisitions. Each firms have made vital contributions to creating inexpensive housing within the Puget Sound area.
Amazon’s announcement comes amidst a broader effort by tech giants to handle the housing disaster of their communities. In 2019, Microsoft pledged $500 million to assist inexpensive housing efforts within the Seattle space, prompting different tech firms like Apple, Google, and Fb (now Meta) to comply with swimsuit. Relations between Amazon and Seattle management have been strained up to now, resulting in the corporate not contemplating Seattle as its headquarters. Nonetheless, efforts to handle the housing disaster, such because the JumpStart Seattle payroll tax and the Seattle Housing Levy, have helped fund inexpensive housing packages within the metropolis.
Whereas efforts by Amazon, Microsoft, and different tech firms have added to the housing stock within the Seattle area, the disaster is way from over. Seattle alone wants greater than 70,000 new low- and middle-income housing items within the coming many years. The current layoffs within the tech sector have added to the challenges, however firms like Amazon and Microsoft have seen development, benefiting from a rebound within the tech business. Shifting ahead, leveraging AI experience to chop prices and acquire efficiencies in creating new housing might be a approach for tech firms to proceed supporting inexpensive housing initiatives of their communities.