Amazon.com is awarding more than $163 million in loans and grants to affordable housing project developers in the District, Virginia and Maryland — and a project in Southeast Fairfax County is set to benefit.
In the Alexandria area, Good Shepherd Housing and Family Services will receive a $2 million grant to acquire 18 homes in the Colchester Towne Condominiums in the Fairfax County area of Alexandria. These homes at 7988 Audubon Ave. will be preserved as affordable for households earning 50 percent of the area median income.
“Congratulations to Good Shepherd Housing and Family Services on receiving $2 million from Amazon—the largest single donation in Good Shepherd Housing’s history! Their vital mission is to provide high quality, affordable, stable housing to those who otherwise would have difficulty accessing it,” Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeffrey McKay commented on Facebook.
Catherine Buell, Amazon’s director of Amazon Housing Equity Fund for Amazon in the Community, said that the organization has surpassed its goal of 1,000 affordable units in Washington, D.C. She said her team also selected projects led by developers of color immersed in communities throughout the region where affordable housing is most needed.
“By working with these diverse development organizations, we can create long-lasting and inclusive affordable housing closer to public transit and other amenities that will improve quality of life for residents,” Buell said at a news conference Wednesday, reported the Washington Post. “We’ll also help ensure families across Washington, D.C. are not displaced from their communities.”
Amazon’s Chairman Jeff Bezos, helped launch the Housing Equity Fund, a $2 billion commitment to preserve and build 20,000 affordable homes in its three hub regions in January 2021. Since then, it’s committed more than $992 million in loans and grants to create or preserve more than 6,200 affordable homes in the DC region.
