Grand Avenue Commons, a task in Seattle supported by the Amazon Housing Fairness Fund

Amazon

Amazon said Thursday that it is really supplying minority-led businesses $23 million to construct and protect a lot more than 568 economical residences in Seattle, a step to relieve the community housing crisis.

Amazon Housing Fairness Fund, which emphasizes aiding homes that make 30% to 80% of an area’s median income, will assistance the financial commitment. Launched in 2021, the fund has provided $1.2 billion for over 8,000 reasonably priced homes across the Puget Audio area in Washington point out, the Arlington, Virginia region and Nashville, Tennessee.

Amazon is working with three housing partners — the Mount Baker Housing Authority (MBHA), El Centro de la Raza, and Gardner Worldwide — and focuses on neighborhoods with massive populations of folks of shade.

“We are dedicated to supporting deal with the housing crisis in the Puget Audio region, which is disproportionally affecting communities of color,” explained Catherine Buell, director of the Amazon Housing Fairness Fund. “In supporting these tasks, we are focusing on fairness by not only growing entry to economical housing but also being intentional about whom we find as enhancement partners.”

The Puget Seem region in Washington Point out hosts places of work for tech companies like Microsoft, Google and Amazon. Microsoft, headquartered in Redmond, Washington, has also supplied housing resources in the region.

Seattleites have blamed Amazon for raising the charge of residence possession. The housing selling price in Bellevue has soared, even surpassing Manhattan, immediately after Amazon expanded its towers into the Seattle suburb, according to info from Redfin cited by Bloomberg.

“When our city’s corporations and non-public partners stage up, like Amazon is carrying out through this significant investment, we can speed up development addressing difficult problems like housing affordability,” Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell claimed in a information launch announcing the investment decision.