Amazon is investing $40 million to help moderate-income families purchase homes in the Seattle area as well as other regions where the tech giant has a major presence.
- Amazon announced Wednesday that it is partnering with National Housing Trust (NHT) on the initiative, in which Amazon’s capital will be used to acquire and build affordable homes for sale, in partnership with a network of local organizations.
- The effort is part of Amazon’s ongoing $2 billion Amazon Housing Equity Fund, a program that started in 2021 to create or preserve thousands of housing units with guaranteed affordable rents across the Puget Sound region; the Arlington, Va., region; and Nashville, Tenn.
- In the Seattle area, Amazon and NHT will initially partner with three organizations: Habitat for Humanity Seattle-King & Kittitas Counties, to support the construction of over 240 homes, as well as a down-payment assistance program, enabling 50 families to become homeowners in 2023; African Community Housing & Development (ACHD), to fund operating support as well as technical assistance to strengthen ACHD’s housing development capacity; and Homestead Community Land Trust, to help fund Homestead’s work to develop land and housing with local community partners.
- The Equity Fund has historically focused on rental properties, and the new pilot is the fund’s first step into home ownership.
