Amazon commits $100M to help build affordable housing near Seattle-area light rail stations

Mount Baker Lofts in Seattle’s Rainier Valley comprises 57 affordable artist residences built by Artspace in 2014. It was built on excess property by Sound Transit. (Photo courtesy Sound Transit)

Amazon is providing $ 100 million through its ongoing Housing Equity Fund to create up to 1,200 affordable housing units in the Puget Sound area. The latest move is part of a partnership with Sound Transit and the units will be built on the agency’s excess land near light rail stations.

The Seattle-based tech giant first announced its $ 2 billion initiative in January that aims to create affordable housing in three communities where its rapid growth could further deepen the economic divide – the Seattle, Northern Virginia and United States Nashville, Tennessee.

The announcement of $ 300 million in new funding on Wednesday goes to transit-oriented, affordable housing development in the areas around these communities. $ 125 million below market loans will go to developers working with the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (Metro) to build more than 1,000 new homes in the Washington, DC area; and $ 75 million to developers to build an estimated 800 homes on private land in Nashville near high-capacity WeGo transit corridors.

In the fund’s first six months to date, Amazon has raised more than $ 285 million in affordable housing in the Puget Sound area. The move is in line with what other tech companies are doing to tackle housing inequality.

Microsoft started the trend with a $ 750 million affordable housing initiative that focuses on areas around its headquarters in Redmond, Washington. The company’s most recent investment was $ 65 million in new residential units and rents reduction efforts in Bellevue and Kirkland, Washington. As of last November, Microsoft had pledged approximately $ 450 million of the $ 750 million pledged that the company estimates will create and maintain more than 8,000 affordable housing units.

Sound Transit, which serves the central Puget Sound region, is in the process of expanding its light rail service as part of voter-approved expansions. The Agency DEATH program has built, built, or designed over 1,500 affordable housing units on Sound Transit excess land, according to an Amazon press release.

Amazon says its investment will “accelerate pre-development efforts by providing early-stage and permanent funding for new affordable housing units on Sound Transit’s property.”