Amazon commits $24.8 million for affordable housing in Puget Sound

Amazon has announced investments totaling $24.8 million in support of affordable housing in the Puget Sound region.

Made through the Amazon Housing Equity Fund, the investment includes low-rate loans for two new acquisitions by nonprofit affordable housing provider Bellwether Housing. According to Amazon, nonprofit housing providers often struggle to raise the capital they need to acquire and preserve affordable homes before they are lost to developers that convert them into luxury housing. Loans will preserve two hundred and thirteen affordable homes at the Marina Club Apartments in Des Moines and the BLVD in Kent, and both projects will be maintained as affordable housing for households earning at or below 60 percent to 80 percent of area median income for the next ninety-nine years. 

Earlier this year, the Amazon Housing Equity Fund provided $185.5 million in low-interest loans and grants to the King County Housing Authority to preserve a thousand affordable homes in the region.

"The Amazon Housing Equity Fund could not have come at a better time. Public funding sources are severely constrained," said Bellwether Housing CEO Susan Boyd. "We anticipate that this fund will allow us to bring hundreds of more units into permanent affordability."

"The Amazon Housing Equity Fund enables partners like Bellwether Housing and King County Housing Authority to move quickly and competitively to preserve affordability," said Amazon Housing Equity Fund director Catherine Buell. "We are so pleased to be a part of the solution in addressing housing shortages in our region by teaming up with partners to grow the housing stock for households making moderate- to low-incomes. We hope that our investments will help these families have greater peace of mind and be able to stay and thrive in the Puget Sound region."

Photo Credit: Amazon.Com
Source: PhilanthropyNewsDigest.Org

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