Amazon Builds Homeless Shelter at its Headquarters

Amazon is planning to put up a shelter at their headquarters in response to growing needs of accommodation in the city of Seattle where the headquarters is located. This plan which is designed to take up about 50,000 square feet of space is coming as a result of complaints about Amazon’s support on small business and its working conditions. It was announced that the giant ecommerce company is set to partner with a local non-profit, Mary’s Place which specializes in fighting homelessness, to erect 65 rooms which can accommodate up to 200 homeless persons per night.

The shelter which is expected to open its door for business by 2020 will provide job-hunting services and have a resource centre like other non-profit settlements in the area. This project is considered to be a blessing at a time where even the state of Washington is experiencing a 7.3% increase in number of homeless people within one year.

Amazon boss, Jeff Bezos, in a statement commended Mary’s Place for the good job they are doing in helping homeless people, especially women and children in the communities of Seattle. He expressed his delight in this opportunity to be their neighbours, and to be able to contribute their own quota in helping out the homeless.

This is not the first time Amazon is tackling homeless situations by collaborating with local non-profits. The company collaborated with Mary’s place in 2016 to take hundreds of homeless people off the street by giving them temporary accommodation at a former Travelodge. In a statement released on Wednesday, Amazon will continue to work on the erection of the shelter while the people can still stay at the Travelodge. Mary’s place has stated that Amazon’s workers are welcome to volunteer to work at the shelter. If you not a resident of Seattle but still want to be a part of this project, visit the non-profit’s online site to see the wish list so you can donate items via Amazon to the shelter.