(Bloomberg) -- Amazon.com Inc. plans to donate $8 million to two nonprofit groups working on homelessness and affordable housing in Seattle and Arlington County, Virginia.
Seattle’s largest employer has long been a target of activists there who contend the company didn’t do its part to help the city moderate a surge in the cost of living amid the tech boom.
Last year, Amazon backed an effort to repeal a tax on large companies Seattle’s city council had instituted to fund homelessness services. Since then companies and government entities have moved ahead with their own projects to address the issue, but debate about comprehensive action to help the thousands of people sleeping outside largely stalled.
The donations announced Tuesday include $5 million to Plymouth Housing in Seattle and $3 million to the Arlington Community Foundation. Amazon will also match employee donations, up to $5 million through Sept. 30, to 20 nonprofits working on homelessness issues. The technology and retail giant this year started work on a second headquarters campus in Arlington County.
In Seattle, Amazon is building a permanent shelter on its campus.
Amazon disclosed its contribution to Plymouth a few hours before the nonprofit held a press conference to announce it had reached $48.8 million in donations it would put to work building new affordable housing. That sum includes contributions of $5 million each from Microsoft Corp. and the software giant’s former chief executive officer, Steve Ballmer and his wife, Connie, as well as three health care firms headquartered in Seattle.
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