Amazon steps in: Shopping giant offers hotel to house Seattle homeless
Apr 14, 2016, 7:23 AM | Updated: 10:01 am
Amazon may be a global giant of online shopping, but it is acting locally on an issue plaguing Seattle: homelessness.
The Seattle Times reports that Seattle-based Amazon will partner with local non-profit Mary’s Place to provide housing for homeless families. Amazon is contributing a building it owns to make the effort happen, and will pay its utilities.
That building, 34,500-square-feet in the 2200 block of 8th Avenue, was once a Travelodge hotel as well as a dormitory. It can house more than 200 people. The building is located on part of recently acquired land in downtown Seattle that Amazon plans to expand its campus onto. But construction for that expansion won’t happen for at least a year. In the meantime, Mary’s Place can have use of the building to house homeless families. The building comes rent free.
Amazon is donating a former hotel to Mary’s Place to house homeless families. (Google maps)
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