Seattle & Northwest + Seattle | January 23, 2019

Microsoft Commits $500M to Tackle Puget Sound Region’s Affordable Housing Crisis

Microsoft Corp. made a $500 million commitment to preserve existing affordable housing, spur construction of new units, and partner with nonprofits to address the affordable housing crisis on the Eastside of King County and the Puget Sound region. The majority of the capital will be deployed over the next three years.

Microsoft’s Brad Smith says, “If we’re going to make progress, we’ll all need to work together as a community.”

Microsoft’s commitment will include:
– $225 million invested at below-market rate returns, focused on preserving and developing new middle-income housing on King County’s Eastside.
– $250 million invested at market rate returns to support low-income housing across the King County region.
– $25 million in philanthropic grants to address homelessness. This includes two initial commitments of $5 million to the United Way of King County for a program that works to prevent homeless by providing legal representation, helping with back rent and offering caseworker help; and $5 million to support the city of Seattle and King County’s creation of a consolidated entity to address homelessness. This funding is envisioned to help kick-start a new philanthropic funders collaborative with government and other partners.

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About Dennis Kaiser

Dennis Kaiser is Vice President of Content and Public Relations for Connect Commercial Real Estate. Dennis is a communications leader with more than 30 years of experience including as a journalist and in corporate and agency marketing communications roles. He is responsible for Connect’s client content operations and is involved in a range of initiatives ranging from content strategy, message development, copywriting, media relations, social media and content marketing services. In his most recent corporate communications roles, he led a regional public relations effort across Southern California for CBRE, played a key marketing role on JLL’s national retail team, and was responsible for directing the global public relations effort at ValleyCrest, the nation’s largest commercial landscape services company. In addition to his vast commercial real estate experience, Dennis has worked on communications and launch strategies for a number of residential projects such as Disney’s Celebration in Florida, Ritter Ranch in Palmdale California (7,200 homes, 22,000 acres), WaterColor in Florida and PremierGarage in Phoenix. Dennis’s agency background included firms such as Idea Hall and Macy + Associates. He has earned an outstanding reputation with organization leaders as a trusted advisor, strategic program implementer, consensus builder and exceptional collaborator. Dennis has developed and managed national communications programs for Fortune 500 companies to start-ups, both public and private. He’s successfully worked with journalists across the globe representing clients involved in major-breaking news stories, product launches, media tours, and company news announcements. Dennis has been involved in a host of charitable and community organizations including the American Cancer Society, Easter Seals, BoyScouts, Chrysalis Foundation, Freedom For Life, HOLA, L.A.’s BEST, Reach Out and Read, Super Bowl Host Committee, and Thunderbirds Charities.