Amazon is committing an additional $1.4 billion to its Amazon Housing Equity Fund to create or preserve another 14,000 affordable homes.
The move brings the fund’s total to more than $3.6 billion to finance more than 35,000 affordable homes in areas where the company has a big presence—Washington’s Puget Sound region, the Virginia/national capital region, and Nashville, Tennessee.
“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.”
Amazon launched the $2 billion Housing Equity Fund in January 2021 with the goal of creating and preserving 20,000 affordable homes across three of its hometown communities within five years. The company reported that it has exceeded its original goal two years early by providing $2.2 billion to create and preserve more than 21,000 affordable homes.
The Housing Equity Fund supports affordable housing developments focused on households that earn between 30% and 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.
While the initial $2.2 billion primarily supported affordable rental housing, the Housing Equity Fund is also piloting other ways to increase access to affordable housing, according to the company. For example, in 2023, Amazon 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, Amazon will continue to pursue new ways for the fund to create positive housing outcomes for low- to moderate-income residents,” said the company in a statement.
Here's a snapshot of the progress to date across the fund’s three communities:
- Helping create and preserve 9,500-plus homes across the national capital region and increasing Arlington, Virginia’s affordable housing stock by 23%;
- Funding a total of 8,600-plus homes across the Puget Sound region and increasing affordable housing stock by 30% in Bellevue, Washington;
- Funding over 3,100 affordable homes across the Nashville region; and
- Funding 32% of the projects in partnership with diverse-led developers from these communities.
Amazon said it also intentional about creating greater economic equity by supporting diverse-led developers through the Amazon Housing Equity Accelerator, a free, 18-month program designed to foster the careers of diverse real estate developers while lowering the barriers they often face. Amazon has invested more than $25 million to support the program, which has graduated 38 developers to date. Amazon said it will continue to fund this program.
