There is a very interesting project that is currently going on at the headquarters of online retailer Amazon that are located in Seattle. The project has nothing to do with the business of the company itself. A homeless shelter is currently being built inside the massive building. The total size of Amazon’s Seattle campus is 10 million square feet. One of the reasons that Amazon felt the need to build the homeless shelter was the fact that homelessness has become a very big problem in Seattle over the past decade. The company feels that it is very important to give back to the community.
Amazon will be paying for security, utilities and rent for the homeless shelter. Amazon employees will be able to volunteer there whenever they want. It is interesting to note that the increase in homelessness in Seattle coincides with the building of Amazon’s HQ campus. The price of properties in Seattle has gone up by a large percentage since Amazon came to town. This has forced a lot of people out of the city because they simply cannot afford to live there any more. Amazon will not be running the homeless shelter directly. This will be handled by a non-profit organization. They are called Mary’s Place. They have had a long relationship with Amazon.
According to Daily Mail, construction on the new homeless shelter will not be done until next year. Almost 300 people will be able to sleep there on a nightly basis. This will make it the biggest homeless shelter in the state of Washington. The bad news is that there are many more homeless people in the area. The county where Seattle is located has more than 12,000 homeless people. There is no way to build a shelter big enough for all of them. Amazon is still going above and beyond what most tech companies are doing to help homeless people.
It should be noted that Apple recently make a pledge of $2.5 billion to create housing for homeless people in CA. Some people have been critical of this move because Apple will be able to make money on the properties they build. Amazon has said that more homeless shelters might be on the way. However, no definite plans have been made yet. The shelter that is located in the HQ building will allow homeless people to have their own rooms. There will also be bathtubs available for people who want to use them.
Dil Bole Oberoi
