Amazon mentioned it might give $185.5 million to the King County Housing Authority to assist purchase reasonably priced residences within the area and hold the rents low, The Seattle Instances reported Wednesday.
The company is anticipated to pair bond funding with the $161.5 million in loans and $24 million in grants from Amazon to fund its latest buy of three residence buildings, together with 470 items in Bellevue, about 10 miles (16 kilometers) west of Seattle.
Different tech corporations have invested massive sums just lately to spice up reasonably priced housing, following years of complaints that they’ve worsened inequality in cities by pushing housing costs increased.
Two years in the past, Microsoft launched its personal initiative and is spending $750 million to assist present market-rate or below-market-rate loans to builders who wish to construct affordable housing within the Seattle space.
Within the newest effort by Amazon, cash additionally was directed to Arlington, Virginia, and Nashville, Tennessee, the place it has hubs. Firm officers projected the $2 billion would protect or create 20,000 reasonably priced housing items over the following 5 years.
The funding will “assist native households obtain long-term stability whereas constructing robust, inclusive communities,” Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos mentioned.
Whereas Amazon and Bezos have given massive quantities towards reasonably priced housing and homelessness companies, together with opening a homeless shelter on the campus of its Seattle headquarters, the corporate has additionally drawn scorn for efficiently pressuring the Seattle Metropolis Council to rescind a tax on massive corporations that will have funded homelessness companies in 2018.
Stephen Norman, govt director of the King County Housing Authority, mentioned reasonably priced housing is usually renovated and rents are elevated, worsening financial and racial segregation.
“This can be a lengthy technique making certain … that this neighborhood would not get hollowed out,” he mentioned.
Norman added that the cash is estimated to cowl about 45% of the price of the three residence buildings.
