What would happen if Amazon brought 50,000 workers to your city? Ask Seattle.

On the sidewalks, alongside rentable neon bikes, people subsist in tents and sleeping bags in places locals say they did not congregate at 10 years ago - a warning sign for cities nationwide trying to capture a version of Seattle's glory.

"We don't have enough housing for low-income people especially, but we also just don't have enough housing," said Myers, a longtime Seattle housing advocate. "And Amazon obviously impacts both of those things."

Officials at Bellwether Housing, the city's largest nonprofit manager of affordable housing, at 2,000 units, report a vacancy rate of 1 percent. "It's very rare that someone moves out, because they have nowhere else to go," said chief executive Susan Boyd.

A state analysis of evictions found they were driven not by social problems but by economics. As Amazon's boom has continued, the city approved a rule this year requiring landlords to accept the first viable renter who applies - rather than cherry-picking a tech worker. The government also adopted an inclusionary zoning policy requiring developers to set aside some new units at below-market rates or pay into a fund to develop other affordable units.