In January 2021, Amazon launched the $2 billion Housing Equity Fund with the goal of creating and preserving 20,000 affordable homes across three of its hometown communities—Washington State's Puget Sound region; the Arlington, Virginia/National Capital region; and Nashville, Tennessee—within five years. The Fund is designed to help moderate- to low-income residents access quality affordable housing, and we’re pleased to announce that we’ve exceeded our original goal two years early by providing $2.2 billion to create and preserve more than 21,000 affordable homes.
The rooftop of the Nitze-Stagen Apartments in Seattle, WAWe’re now extending our commitment with an additional $1.4 billion in funding to create and preserve an additional 14,000 homes in these communities, bringing the total to more than $3.6 billion to fund more than 35,000 affordable homes across these three regions. The extension of the Housing Equity Fund underscores our commitment to affordable housing and to helping thousands of families live closer to where they work or near transportation hubs, removing a major barrier to success.
“We created the Amazon Housing Equity Fund to preserve and create homes that will remain affordable for the next century, ensuring families can stay in their communities for generations to come,” said Amazon CEO Andy Jassy. “We hope that our additional commitment—coupled with other public and private resources—will help make a meaningful difference for thousands more people and enable these regions to thrive.”
The Housing Equity Fund supports affordable housing developments focused on households that earn 30% to 80% of the area median income. That often includes first responders, teachers, health care workers, and others who may not typically qualify for subsidies but whose wages haven’t kept pace with escalating rents.
We’re also intentional about creating greater economic equity by supporting diverse-led developers. We do this through the Amazon Housing Equity Accelerator, a free, eighteen-month program, designed to foster the careers of diverse real estate developers while lowering the barriers they often face. We’ve invested over $25 million to support the program, which has graduated 38 diverse developers to date, and we’re continuing to fund this program as part of today’s announcement.
The Housing Equity Fund’s positive impacts
The 21,000 homes that the Fund has already helped to create and preserve will enable more than 46,000 residents to access affordable housing, and the majority of this housing will remain affordable for a century. The Fund is also designed to place this housing in areas that will positively impact these residents’ quality of life. For example, 92% of homes we’ve funded are near bus or rail stations to reduce transportation costs. In addition, while many new multi-family developments today consist primarily of studio and 1-bedroom units, 41% of the homes we’ve funded so far have two or more bedrooms to serve families.
Gale Eckington Apartments, Washington, D.C.Here's a snapshot of the progress to date across the Fund’s three communities:
- We’ve helped create and preserve 9,500+ homes across the National Capital region and increased Arlington, VA’s affordable housing stock by 23%.
- We’ve funded a total of 8,600+ homes across the Puget Sound region and increased affordable housing stock by 30% in Bellevue, WA.
- We’ve funded over 3,100 affordable homes across the Nashville, TN region.
- 32% of the projects we’ve funded are in partnership with diverse-led developers from these communities.
Finding new ways to support affordable housing
While our initial $2.2 billion primarily supported affordable rental housing, through the Fund we are also piloting other ways to increase access to affordable housing. For example, in 2023 we funded a $40 million program to make it easier for moderate-income residents to become homeowners, with the goal of creating generational wealth for historically underserved communities. Going forward, we’ll continue to pursue new ways for the Fund to create positive housing outcomes for low- to moderate-income residents.
As we look ahead, our focus will remain on finding the most effective ways to create affordable homes near transit, jobs, schools, healthcare and community resources to create better outcomes for all.
