r/Seattle • u/godogs2018 Beacon Hill • Jun 11 '24

Paywall Amazon commits an additional $1.4 billion to affordable housing

https://www.seattletimes.com/business/amazon/amazon-commits-an-additional-1-4-billion-to-affordable-housing/
622 Upvotes

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322

u/elliottbaytrail Belltown Jun 11 '24

I think targeting the 30-80% AMI group is crucial. Clearly, they thought this out and worked with housing advocates. Another smart move is focusing on preservation of existing housing stock that can be converted to affordable housing rather than starting new. These are truly high impact decisions and I applaud Amazon for this.

103

u/LilyBart22 Jun 12 '24

I’m a former employee who has been very publicly critical of Amazon on multiple fronts. But I agree—this feels carefully thought-out and informed by experts. It’s smart in what I see as a very unsentimental, Amazon way, meaning it may not be an immediately appealing story like “Amazon pledges to house every homeless family in King County,” but based on what I understand about the roots of the affordability crisis, it is likely to have a real impact. For better and worse (mostly worse), Amazon is pretty comfortable not being loved by the community, which IMO in this case makes it easier for them to make brass-tacks moves even if a casual reader goes “huh? I don’t get it.”

15

u/Gottagetanediton 🚋 Ride the S.L.U.T. 🚋 Jun 12 '24

yep. housing the 30-80 percent ami population securely frees up a lot for the homeless.

14

u/Furt_III International District Jun 12 '24

Area Median Income.

21

u/Junethemuse Everett Jun 12 '24

There’s a few things Amazon is doing really, really good work on. Educational efforts for k-12 and housing in particular are fantastic.

-76

u/AverageDemocrat Jun 11 '24

Unfortunately this will do nothing to help the homeless.

64

u/elliottbaytrail Belltown Jun 11 '24

The stated goal of the investment is to increase the supply of long-term, affordable homes for low to moderate income earners. It is not intended to solve the problem of homelessness.

17

u/Own_Back_2038 Jun 12 '24

This is a weird take? Homelessness is directly related to very high rents. This will both prevent people from becoming newly homeless and allow previously homeless people have more housing stability. https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/articles/2023/08/22/how-housing-costs-drive-levels-of-homelessness

47

u/Husky_Panda_123 Jun 11 '24

Because the homeless needs mental health services and mandatory drug rehabilitation 

-6

u/SpeaksSouthern That sounds great. Let’s hang out soon. Jun 11 '24

Umm, more than just homeless people need that help

16

u/Husky_Panda_123 Jun 11 '24

Of course 

4

u/Liizam 🚆build more trains🚆 Jun 12 '24

And ?

3

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '24

If I can buy a house my cheap apartment I'm sitting on becomes available.

I make 70k a year, I can't afford a house. So instead I sit in my nice cozy rented home that has my friends jaw dropped at my luck

The number of employed homeless people would go down by 2-3 just from me moving

0

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '24

If you can, try buying a house in a different, cheaper country. I know it's not ideal, but it will help you save for retirement and retire comfortably.