Amazon announced on Wednesday a $2 million gift to preserve affordable housing units in our service area, awarded to Good Shepherd Housing. It is the largest single gift in the non-profit's 48-year-old history and will be used to purchase 18 affordable housing units in Colchester Towne, a neighborhood in the core of Good Shepherd Housing's service area.
“We’re grateful for the chance to support Good Shepherd Housing’s efforts to create much-needed affordable housing in Alexandria,” said Catherine Buell, Director of the Amazon Housing Equity Fund. "This project aligns perfectly with our efforts to help create quality affordable housing in partnership with local organizations throughout the region.”
"We are thrilled, on behalf of our residents and future residents, for Amazon's incredible commitment to preserving affordable housing along Richmond Highway," says David Levine, President and CEO of Good Shepherd Housing. "This gift ensures more working families and individuals will have the opportunity to access a safe, secure place to live, along with our supportive case management services to help them achieve long-term housing security."
Amazon's $2 million gift closes out Good Shepherd Housing's capital campaign, The Campaign for Colchester, which launched in 2018 with the goal of acquiring 30 additional units in Colchester Towne Condominium, a multi-family community in Alexandria. That goal aimed to add to the 30 existing units the housing non-profit owns in Colchester Towne. Prior to Amazon's gift, the campaign had raised enough funding to purchase 12 additional units. The 18 units to be purchased with Amazon's $2 million award meet the capital campaign's goal.
"Franconia District and the broader Richmond Highway community are currently on the cusp of a period of tremendous transformation," says Franconia District Supervisor Rodney Lusk. "The employers, property owners, and entrepreneurs who will most benefit from that transformation must help ensure their success is not built on the displacement of residents who have called Richmond Highway home for generations. With this investment, Amazon is clearly demonstrating that they understand that obligation.
Good Shepherd Housing purchased the first eight of the 18 planned housing units in Colchester Towne earlier this year. The non-profit will acquire 10 more over the next five years as units become available.
“Affordable housing is a lynchpin of our local economy. With this gift, Good Shepherd Housing can further its vital mission to provide high quality, affordable, and stable housing to those who otherwise would have difficulty accessing it,” says Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeffrey C. McKay. "I am thrilled that Amazon chose our partners at Good Shepherd Housing for this tremendous donation and look forward to their continued investment in our community.”
Good Shepherd Housing, its volunteers, donors, and community will be celebrating the major gift with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on September 29, 2022.
To date, Amazon, through the Amazon Housing Equity Fund, has committed to help create or preserve over 6,200 homes throughout the region.
About Good Shepherd Housing and Family Services
Since 1974, GSH has been reducing homelessness and enabling self-sufficiency by providing permanent affordable housing, emergency financial services, budget counseling and case management to working-class families in Fairfax County. Earning recognition and awards for its work, GSH received the 2013 Washington Post Award for Excellence in Nonprofit Management in a competition with 48 leading regional nonprofits. GSH has also been selected as one of the best nonprofits over many years by the Greater Washington Catalogue for Philanthropy.
For more information, please visit www.goodhousing.org.
