Amazon housing fund director resigns

Amazon.com Inc.’s Amazon Housing Equity Fund Director Catherine Buell is leaving the e-tail giant.

Housing Equity Fund Principal Senthil Sankaran will be the interim head of the fund team, according to an Amazon spokesperson.

Buell joined Amazon in 2020 as head of community development for Amazon in the Community and became director of the e-tailer’s Housing Equity Fund in October 2021.

Amazon announced the $2 billion fund in 2021 to keep and create more than 20,000 affordable units in Arlington, Nashville and the Puget Sound area of Washington.

An Amazon spokesperson said in a statement: “We’re grateful for Catherine’s leadership and wish her all the best as she pursues new opportunities. Since launching the Amazon Housing Equity Fund, we’ve committed over $1.6 billion to help build and preserve more than 12,000 affordable homes in our hometown communities and we will continue to invest in this space, in partnership with local and diverse organizations.”

Before joining Amazon, Buell was vice president of policy and programs for the Greater Washington Partnership. Prior to that, she was president and CEO of the Atlanta Housing Authority, according to her LinkedIn profile. Buell holds an undergraduate degree from Spelman College and a law degree from Georgetown University.

Buell’s last day at Amazon is Friday, according to Washington Business Journal, and she plans to stay in Washington, D.C.

Affordable housing in Arlington became a priority for Amazon because of its $2.5 billion HQ2 headquarters, which is expected to create 25,000 jobs by 2030, Buell told Virginia Business in 2022. In March, Amazon announced it was delaying construction on the second phase of the East Coast headquarters campus, although the first phase is still set to open in June.

One of several Arlington-area projects that received funding under Buell’s tenure is the 1,334-unit Barcroft Apartments complex. In late 2021, Amazon and Arlington County teamed up to provide more than $300 million in financing — $150 million from the county and $160 million from Amazon in low-rate loans — to help Washington, D.C.-based Jair Lynch Real Estate Partners purchase the complex. Jair Lynch pledged to keep all units affordable for people making up to 60% of the area median income for 99 years.

In September 2022, Amazon Housing Equity Fund announced it was committing $147 million to build or preserve 1,260 affordable homes in Washington, D.C., across several locations. That announcement brought the fund’s investment for the DMV area to $163 million, according to a news release.