Andy Jassy’s Post

Homeownership offers stability, financial growth, and community bonds. Yet, affordability remains a significant obstacle for nearly three-fourths of potential buyers. For families of color, the issue is amplified by the historical legacy of segregation, redlining, and racially biased policies. Today, Amazon announced the launch of a new initiative in partnership with National Housing Trust (NHT) —  a nonprofit focused on the creation and preservation of affordable homes to help advance racial equity and reduce economic disparity — to help individuals and families from underserved communities become homeowners. HR&A Advisors is proud to have advised Amazon on the structuring of this initiative and excited to see the Housing Equity Fund expand its scope by supporting innovative models for affordable homeownership. NHT will use the Amazon Housing Equity Fund’s capital to acquire and build affordable homes for sale, in partnership with a network of local organizations. In 2021, Amazon established the Amazon Housing Equity Fund, a program that, to date, has helped create or preserve over 14,000 units with guaranteed affordable rents across Washington state’s Puget Sound region; the Arlington, Virginia region; and Nashville, Tennessee. With the new pilot announced today, Amazon will invest $40 million to help moderate-income residents in these communities to purchase homes as a path to help build generational wealth. Learn more below! #AffordableHousing #HousingCrisis #CommunityImpact #Homeownership 

https://lnkd.in/gfXeePmE Amazon has already spent $2.2B on housing affordability and I'm so happy to see a second round of investment. I wanted to call it out here because the way they're approaching the work strikes me as "very Amazon" in a couple of respects: 1) It aims for both quick wins and long-term impact. There's a focus on not just building new affordable housing, but preserving EXISTING stock and converting it to affordable housing. This prevents developers from buying a building, tearing it down, and building high-end housing in its place. It also makes the timeline to market much shorter than for new construction. (I don't know what it's like in other cities, but in Seattle I've seen projects stop and start for YEARS.) And once acquired, 95% of the properties are guaranteed to remain affordable for 99 years. 2) It's not about the headline. This is going to sound like a backhanded compliment, but I mean it sincerely: Amazon doesn't care about looking nice. 😂 I've already seen complaints on the internet: "How does this solve the homelessness crisis? Why don't they just build a house for every homeless person?" Well, for one thing, the fund is aimed at housing affordability overall, not solving homelessness specifically. The new investments will target people who earn 30%-80% of Area Median Income, making it easier for teachers and restaurant workers and artists, etc. to afford housing in cities where Amazon salaries have spiked costs beyond what even the middle class can pay. But also, this investment WILL indirectly address homelessness. Several studies, including one from the UW, have demonstrated that homelessness is strongly tied to a lack of housing at ALL price points. Scarcity drives up costs until the middle class and then the working class and then the working poor and so on are simply forced out. Yes, mental illness and addiction are also drivers or perpetuators of homelessness, but for every highly visible person you see in the grips of a behavioral health crisis, X number of others simply can't make market rents, or can't cover the lump sum--first, last, security, application fee, etc.--it takes to secure a new place. Any easing of scarcity in the affordable-housing sector will help those people, too. Obviously that's a more wonkish, less emotionally satisfying headline than "Amazon commits $1.4B to housing the homeless." But as I said above, for better or worse, Amazon doesn't care about looking warm and fuzzy, and is famously "willing to be misunderstood for long periods of time." In this case, I think both are a plus, because the strategy will have significant long-term impact and they clearly consulted with housing experts in forming it. It's not a sentimentally appealing story, but it's still a good one.

RICHMOND, VA - PRIME MULTIFAMILY LOCATION COMING UP FOR SALE After nearly a century overlooking Byrd Park, a Richmond home for adults with disabilities is preparing for a move to the suburbs. The Virginia Home is in the early stages of a relocation to Hanover County, a process that will include selling its 130-bed facility at 1101 Hampton St. in Richmond, the nonprofit’s CEO Doug Vaughan said Thursday. Proceeds from the sale of the Richmond property would go toward a new, larger facility to be built near the intersection of Pole Green and Bell Creek roads in eastern Hanover. The Hampton Street facility, where The Virginia Home provides nursing and therapy services to residents, dates to the 1930s. While the facility has been expanded twice over the decades, there is no longer enough space on the property for the nonprofit to grow, Vaughan said. The Richmond facility sits on a nearly 2-acre site occupied by a five- and six-story building fronting Hampton Street, as well as an attached annex on South Meadow Street. The facility, which hadn’t yet been listed for sale, overlooks Swan Lake and Shields Lake at Byrd Park. The property was most recently assessed at $18.2 million, according to online city land records. The site is zoned single-family residential (R-5). In Hanover, The Virginia Home is planning a new 160-bed facility. The nonprofit will need both state regulatory approval for the increased resident capacity as well as a rezoning from the Hanover Board of Supervisors to build the new facility, Vaughan said. He declined to comment further on the anticipated size or cost of the Hanover project, saying that planning was still underway. Vaughan also declined to share the exact location of the planned Hanover project, other than to say it would rise on a 71-acre undeveloped site near Pole Green and Bell Creek roads. The nonprofit has the site under contract, and is planning to relocate there around late 2027, he said. The Virginia Home plans to file an application to the state’s certificate of public need (COPN) program later this month to allow more residents at its planned Hanover facility. In Virginia, certain medical and healthcare facilities and equipment require approval from the state’s health commissioner before they can be established. The organization, formerly known as The Virginia Home for Incurables, opened its first eight-resident home on the former Ross Street (now Governor Street) in 1894. The organization moved to Hampton Street by 1931, and rebranded to its current name in the 1960s, according to a history on the organization’s website. In 2022, The Virginia Home reported $30.9 million in revenue and a net income of $8.5 million, according to tax filings. The organization has 240 employees. For more, click on the link below. #escrowcredirt #newmarktitleservices

What are the best strategies for nonprofits and municipal leaders to build affordable housing with thousands of new apartments that create additional transportation options for people of all income levels? #affordability #transit #development #education #opportunities #employment #childcare #options #apartments #rentals #convenience #housing #strategies #income #nonprofit #municipal #leadership https://lnkd.in/eEAZYQtz

Hello! This week is my last week working as Director of Policy at the Chicago Department of Housing. It's been four and a half years, and I'm incredibly proud of my work here. I'm so grateful to my colleagues at DOH, the rest of the City, and in advocacy and practitioner organizations for everything that their work has made possible. A few highlights: 1. The 2021 ARO, which, combined with the state Affordable Housing Special Assessment Program supported by the City, has made 20% affordability a standard part of new multifamily and introduced income averaging to serve more of those most in need. 2. The Fair Notice Ordinance, which increased the notice needed to non-renew a lease from 30 days to as much as 120, and ensured a "right to cure" eviction filings for nonpayment up until an eviction order has been issued--previously, it was just 5 days. 3. Distributing more than $200 million in emergency rental assistance to more than 30,000 households during the peak of the pandemic and continuing through Court-based rental assistance. 4. The Right to Eviction Counsel pilot program, launched to give every low-income tenant access to a lawyer. 5. The first-ever DOH Annual Report, making the department's work more transparent and legible to the public: https://lnkd.in/gsgXZn3C 6. The City's first ADU ordinance, legalizing coach houses for the first time in 60+ years. 7. Innovative anti-displacement policies like the Anti-Deconversion Ordinances and Demolition Surcharge. 8. Landmark zoning reform to promote equitable transit-oriented development through the Connected Communities Ordinance, which drastically cut parking requirements throughout the city, created new accessibility bonuses, and much, much more. 9. And last but not least, a $1.25B bond authorization that fundamentally shifts how Chicago does housing and economic development investments away from the inequitable TIF system and creates the US' largest social housing revolving fund. There are way too many people to thank individually, but I do want to say I'm very grateful for former Comm. Marisa Novara for hiring me, and current Comm. Lissette Castañeda for bringing her leadership, and everyone who has helped invent DOH's Policy Bureau with me since 2019. <3

Lots to chew on here with a pretty comprehensive look, from one point of view, at the potential for addressing housing shortages in Chicago. One thing that stood out for me is this: "The lack of a basement is a disadvantage because families need a place to stash their stuff..." No, they don't. They may *want* a basement to store their stuff. They may *want* a place that is brand new, with new appliances, and new windows, etc. They may want to have a short commute, but truly, we need to get serious about the difference between need and want. One of the things that prevents us from success in solving some of our greatest challenges in housing is our resistance to the difference between need and want. I struggle with it myself, as we all do in a consumption-driven, Insta-ready society. But one of our solutions to this issue will be to think more critically about the difference between need and want, finding compromise in the middle, and working toward greater access to the 'wants' list as we go. I'm grateful to those individuals and organizations, many noted in this piece, who are working on untangling the knot. https://lnkd.in/gNv-_ENS

https://lnkd.in/eMCQc98b Affordable housing is more important than ever, and Amazon is stepping up to help. The tech giant has pledged $2 billion to create and preserve affordable housing in three of its largest hubs, including Seattle, Arlington, and Nashville. This initiative will not only provide much-needed housing for low and middle-income families, but also help alleviate the housing crisis in these cities. Kudos to Amazon for using its resources to make a positive impact in the communities it operates in. Let's hope other companies follow suit and prioritize affordable housing for all. #AffordableHousing #Amazon #CommunityImpact #HousingCrisis #SocialResponsibility

Thrive creates Pilot Programs and provides backbone support for our partner agencies in the community. By knitting together the resources of local government, landlords, and tenant advocates, Thrive piloted a comprehensive solution called the Landlord Tenant Partnership. This program makes accepting housing vouchers more profitable, more secure and more efficient for landlords and provides ongoing coaching and support so that families can succeed in new settings. More than 80% of the first 50 families succeeded in their new housing opportunities and more than 100 children benefited from access to safe housing during the pilot phase of the program. As a result of this success, Thrive has scaled up our leadership and formed the Buncombe Rental Assistance Collaborative. Now, Thrive convenes five other critical housing agencies who serve veterans, the unhoused, survivors of domestic violence and the chronically ill. Rather than competing for new housing, we are working together to raise the standards of support for both tenants and landlords across these agencies. Together with our partners we have placed more than 110 households - more than 250 people - into safer housing. Learn more about our work at buff.ly/3w2PVvd and https://buff.ly/3xdUIdN

A HOUSING AND EDUCATION MODEL People tend to put 'housing' and 'education' in separate social categories, but both are strongly interconnected and can be almost viewed as one. If a landlord significantly raises rents beyond affordability, the parents only option is to move. Student movement 2-3 times a school year is becoming a norm as the increased cost of housing forces parents to chase affordable housing options outside their school district. https://lnkd.in/grWt22S8