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Amazon has deepened its commitment to affordable housing in Northern Virginia, where new projects are providing homes for workers in the region who often find costs are out of reach.
The company’s Housing Equity Fund recently announced it is adding $1.4 billion on top of an original investment of $2.2 billion.
The money is directed to three of Amazon’s hometown communities, including Arlington – the home of its second headquarters, as well as the Puget Sound region in Washington state and Nashville.
The latest goal is to help fund the creation and preservation an additional14,000 affordable homes across these communities. The company’s original commitment was to help fund 21,000 affordable homes within five years, a goal that was exceeded two years ahead of schedule.
“We have found that we have partners really ready to go in this region,” said Senthil Sankaran, principal of the Housing Equity Fund, during a June panel discussion of affordable housing at HQ2 in Arlington. “That’s actually one of the reasons the fund has performed so well, here in HQ2.”
Accelerant for speeding up housing projects
Housing advocates know all too well that housing projects can take years to clear all the hurdles needed before they are built and open to residents.
Carmen Romero, president of the Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing (APAH), said Amazon has helped to speed up the process for getting projects completed.
She noted that her organization, which in the past has overseen one or two major housing projects a year, now has six projects moving forward.
One of these projects, Unity Homes, recently opened across from the Ballston Metro station, with 144 units.
“We had 1,800 people on the interest list before certificate of occupancy,” Romero said, citing the high demand for an affordable place to live. “That is our biggest challenge.”
She pointed out that the project preceded her tenure at APAH and overall took about 17 years to come together.
But APAH was able to push it to the finish line.
“That’s where I think Amazon played a critical piece when they came in town,” she said.
Sankaran said Amazon has sought to address housing gaps and move things along.
“A hallmark of the program is really about speed,” he said. “How do we facilitate the fund being an accelerant?”
Support goes beyond providing capital
The infusion of major funding from Amazon, everyone agreed, is critical to getting housing projects to move forward more quickly.
But Brian Allan “AJ” Jackson with LEO Impact Capital said it’s about much more than providing money.
“I think the key to the Amazon capital is the flexibility,” Jackson said.
He pointed out that there is both a deep need for low-income housing, as well as moderate and middle-income housing.
“So thinking about this holistically, which Amazon has done, and very few other capital sources do, has been really, really critical to our ability to do what we’ve done here in the region,” he said.
Sankaran pointed out that for Amazon, it is not just capital that is important, but helping to develop policies to respond to the community.
“We’ve partnered with the Washington Council of Governments (COG) where we fund studies in terms of what policy changes could help promote additional production of affordable housing or preservation,” he said.
Optimism moving forward
While there are always challenges ahead, Sankaran and the others said they are feeling good about the future.
“I’m optimistic… knowing that the opportunity exists out there, and I think the responsibility exists out there for all of us… to make sure that everyone across the income spectrum is covered… in order to call this place home,” Sankaran said.
Jackson pointed out that progress in getting affordable housing near transit for mixed income residents, “makes it impossible for other people to ignore it.”
He said Amazon has played a big role in that.
Romero pointed out that construction is now underway in Tysons Corner on The Exchange at Springhill Station, a 516 unit apartment complex developed by APAH, with the help of Amazon. It will provide homes for households earning 60% of the area median income or less.
She said work would not have moved forward as quickly without Amazon’s involvement, which includes $56 million from the company’s Housing Equity Fund.
“Amazon is helping keep affordable housing on everyone’s agenda, which I think is important,” Romero said.
