Now, 65 families, or about 220 people and their pets, will have a clean, dry place to sleep in Seattle. 

Although it’s an enormous, multinational company that can now deliver your products via drone, Amazon  is looking out for its neighbors on a local scale. Today, the company announced that it will share one of its new corporate office buildings in downtown Seattle with a homeless shelter for families. 

The shelter, which had previously been housed in a vacant motel, will take up half of one of the buildings owned by Amazon, and provide shelter for 65 families. That amounts to about 220 people and their pets, the New York Times reports. It will not be run by Amazon, but rather by Mary’s Place, a local shelter. 

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Homelessness is a growing problem in Seattle, along with other major cities across the country. The amount of people without a home increased by 12% in Seattle between 2010 and 2015, according to the American Council on Science and Health. In all, Seattle and the surrounding King County had more than 10,000 homeless people, third after Los Angeles and New York City.  

Nationwide, about 22% of all homeless people are children, and this problem is mirrored in Seattle. There, about 3,000 children in the public school system reported not having permanent housing. 

In 2015, the situation had become so dire — with 45 homeless people dying on the streets that year — that the mayor declared a “state of emergency.”

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Amazon’s initiative to curb the tide of homelessness may seem small in comparison to these numbers, but it could have a long-term effect for the families that are spared from the streets. It also shows the company’s willingness to foster a greater sense of community for those displaced from their homes. 

The new shelter will not only serve as a place to get a good night’s rest, but also as a community resource with more than 40 nonprofits and onsite volunteers.  

“Too often, homelessness gets pushed to the other side of the tracks,” Nan Roman, who represents the National Alliance to End Homelessness, told the Times. “Keeping them as neighbors is nice.” 

For one mother who has been living in temporary housing provided by Mary’s Place, Amazon’s gift demonstrated a willingness to care for those less fortunate. 

“There’s people out there who really do care,” she said

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Amazon’s New Office Space Is Also a Homeless Shelter

By Phineas Rueckert