Amazon to fund affordable housing near WMATA, Sound Transit stations

Editor's note: This story has been updated to correct the location of the housing developments in Maryland.

Amazon will invest $124.2 million to build more than 1,000 affordable homes near train stations operated by Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) in Washington, D.C., and Sound Transit in the Seattle area.

Amazon will invest $42.5 million to build more than 300 homes in the Puget Sound region and $81.7 million for more than 700 homes in the Arlington, Virginia, area. Both investments stem from Amazon’s $300 million transit commitment in 2021 to build affordable housing developments near public transit in the company’s “hometown communities,” Amazon officials said in a press release.

The Amazon Housing Equity Fund is a $2 billion investment to create and preserve 20,000 affordable homes for lower-income families in the Puget Sound and Arlington areas as well as in Nashville, Tennessee.

In the Puget Sound area, new housing developments will be built near Sound Transit's Spring District/120th Station, where a new light-rail station is planned to open in 2023, and Angle Lake Station, the light-rail station in SeaTac. 

In Maryland, new housing developments will be built near the Margaux at the New Carrollton Metro Station, which will soon offer access to Maryland’s Purple Line, and Atworth at the College Park Metro Station, which is within walking distance of the University of Maryland.

Amazon's fund "is tackling the affordable housing crisis on multiple fronts and through innovative solutions, such as teaming up with public transit authorities, which brings people closer to more opportunities, services and a better quality of life,” said Catherine Buell, the fund's director.