In this episode of The Real Estate Shop, Steve and Curvin interview Catherine Buell, the Former Director of the Amazon Housing Equity Fund. In this podcast, she discusses the investment criteria, markets covered, and the intended social impact.
Catherine was responsible for long-term and innovative programs that address civic priorities in the communities where Amazon employees live and work. She helped launch and oversaw Amazon’s Housing Equity Fund, a more than $2 billion commitment to preserve and create over 20,000 affordable housing units in Washington State’s Puget Sound region; Arlington, Virginia region; and Nashville, Tennessee. Amazon’s Housing Equity Fund will help preserve existing housing and help create inclusive housing developments through below-market loans and grants to housing partners, traditional and non-traditional public agencies, and minority-led organizations.
Catherine previously served as the President and CEO of the Atlanta Housing Authority (d/b/a “Atlanta Housing” or “AH”) where she led the agency’s strategic, financial and operational efforts by providing housing to more than 23,000 of Atlanta’s low-and extremely low-income households. While at Atlanta Housing, Catherine led the development of the agency’s five year plan, called “Vision 2022” (Live, Work, Thrive), aimed at increasing the number of households served, increasing investments in family self-sufficiency efforts and agency fiscal responsibility. During her tenure, she advanced major real estate efforts including partnerships with the Atlanta BeltLine, Inc. to develop affordable housing near the popular BeltLine and also work with Invest Atlanta to purchase the 19-acre Civic Center site in downtown Atlanta. She also served as Vice President of Policy and Programs for the Greater Washington Partnership, a first-of-its-kind civic alliance of CEOs in the Washington D.C. region, where she focused on a range of issues include regional housing policy issues.
