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The Home Depot Foundation will add more than 750 units of supportive housing for veterans facing homelessness through $10.4 million in grants to its nonprofit partners. This funding 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, 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. The Home Depot Foundation 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.
“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,” said Shannon Gerber, executive director of The Home Depot Foundation. “However, 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.”
See related article: The Home Depot Announces Grants for 36 HBCUs at 2023 Retool Your School Awards Celebration
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: U.S.VETS will launch a pilot program in Los Angeles and Hawaii aimed at expanding housing opportunities for at-risk and formerly homeless veterans, with a goal of housing 100 veterans over the next two years. 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. Community Solutions is expected to help communities house 1,000 veterans across cities including Washington, D.C., Detroit, Jacksonville, Charlotte and Minneapolis through its Built for Zero initiative, a movement to measurably and equitably end homelessness.
- 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.”
Since 2011, The Home Depot Foundation has invested more than $475 million in veteran causes and improved more than 55,000 veteran housing facilities.