Helping veterans is key for Home Depot and Lowe’s
The Home Depot Foundation reported it will add more than 750 units of supportive housing for veterans facing homelessness through $10.4 million in grants to its nonprofit partners.
Lowe’s has announced a $2 million donation over the next two years to Building Homes for Heroes, the latest highlight in an ongoing partnership that supports veterans and first responders.
[Check out the interactive map of all the Lowe’s and Home Depot stores in the U.S.]
Shannon Gerber, executive director of The Home Depot Foundation said, “the number of veterans facing homelessness was more than 65,000 when we established our first formal financial commitment to veterans in 2011, and we’re proud to see progress today through significant declines in that figure.”
This funding, said Home Depot, will support the construction and renovation of supportive housing facilities, critical home repairs to keep at-risk veterans in their homes, and innovative housing solutions that will help more veterans exit or avoid homelessness and access affordable housing.
While veteran homelessness has declined 55% since 2010, said the firm, more than 33,000 U.S. military veterans still lack access to stable, secure housing across the nation, according to the latest data released by the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
“There is much more work to be done, and we remain dedicated to working with our nonprofit partners to ensure the heroes who served our nation have a place to lay their heads,” said Gerber.
The Home Depot Foundation said it has invested more than $100 million to help end veteran homelessness since 2011, part of its larger commitment to invest half of a billion dollars in veteran causes by 2025.
Through these grants, The Home Depot Foundation and its nonprofit partners will work to end veteran homelessness through several key strategies, including:
Funding programs to help more veterans access housing
Volunteers of America will provide flexible funding to support veterans facing financial barriers that might be a hurdle keeping them from accessing adequate housing, such as paying a security deposit or providing first and last month's rent upfront.
Preventing homelessness by keeping more veterans in their homes
A grant to the Housing Assistance Council will help low-income, at-risk veterans living in rural communities nationwide stay in their homes through home repairs and modifications.
Increasing the number of affordable, supportive housing units available to veterans
Through the Foundation’s Veteran Housing Grant program, nonprofit organizations working at the local level can apply for funding to construct or renovate supportive housing units in their communities.
More than $5 million in funding will go to multiple cities across the nation, including Greater Los Angeles, Cincinnati and Charlotte.
“Each case of a veteran at-risk of or experiencing homelessness is unique, with circumstances frequently beyond the veteran’s control,” said Tanisha Smith, vice president of corporate partnerships for Volunteers of America.
“Through the latest grant from The Home Depot Foundation, we can address their individual needs on multiple levels, ensuring more veterans find, secure and stay in a place they can call home,” said Smith.
Lowe’s and Building Homes for Heroes
The Lowe’s donation – the largest single corporate gift Building Homes for Heroes has received since 2020 – will help the nonprofit construct, modify and gift as many as 75 homes over the next two years for veterans, police, firefighters and other emergency first responders and their families.
“We couldn’t be more excited and humbled to partner with such an amazing and patriotic company like Lowe’s,” said Andy Pujol, founder and CEO of Building Homes for Heroes.
“As one of our biggest national partners, Lowe’s helped us reach our milestone 300th home last year. Thanks to this donation, we are looking forward to celebrating our 400th home in 2024. Nearly 100 homes for 100 heroes and their families in two years’ time,” he said.
“It’s a beautiful example of how corporations and nonprofit organizations can come together to make our communities and our country a better place in support of our nation's heroes,” Pujol said.
Joe McFarland, Lowe’s executive vice president of stores and a Gulf War veteran, said: “We are proud of our partnership with Building Homes for Heroes, which is in line with Lowe’s heritage of honoring and supporting military members, veterans and their families with safe, affordable housing and community spaces.”
Lowe’s has partnered with Building Homes for Heroes since 2020, donating more than $3.4 million to the nonprofit to help build and modify 112 homes to date.
