Amazon is partnering with a dozen D.C.-area providers and developers to fund more than 1,000 affordable housing units — the tech giant’s latest attempt to blunt the economic impact of its second headquarters, a massive complex that although it’s not set to open until 2023, has already drastically altered the economic landscape of the D.C. region.
Using roughly $150 million in grants and loans, the company — which brought in a profit of about $33.36 billion in 2021 — will facilitate the creation or preservation of affordable housing units across D.C.
The money comes from Amazon’s $2 billion Housing Equity Fund, a pot of money purportedly intended to prevent displacement in the wake of the company’s growth, but which has seemingly done little to help the region’s poorest residents. A Washington Post analysis earlier this year found that only 6% of the units created by the fund had gone to the lowest-income renters.
The D.C. money will be used for eight different projects in the city — many tied to Metro stops and accessibility, following the company’s earlier commitment in 2021 to invest $125 million of the Housing Equity Fund in affordable housing units on Metro-owned land.
One of the most notable of the developments getting Amazon’s largesse is planned for the Congress Heights Apartments, where earlier this year tenants secured a major victory over a neglectful landlord who had tried to quietly sell the rent-controlled building to a high-end developer. Using the Housing Equity Fund, Amazon will support the new developers’ plan to construct 179 affordable units for households earning between 30%-80% AMI, or area median income. (In D.C., that’s around $43,800 to $114,000 for a four-person household.) Located next to the Congress Heights Metro and the St. Elizabeth’s East Campus, the completed renovation will also include 240,000 square feet of retail space.
Of the developments announced, none stipulate reserved units for extremely low-income residents, referring to households earning no more than 30% of the AMI. Other projects include - 2026 Maryland Ave NE, The Residences at Benning Road, 4111 Kansas Ave NW, 325 Vine, S Street Village, Mount Pleasant Preservation Project, Holmead Place Apartments.
The first major investment of Amazon’s fund in the region went to the Washington Housing Conservancy, a local housing nonprofit that used the loan to purchase the Crystal House apartment building in Arlington, near the forthcoming HQ2 site.
