AFFORDABLE HOUSING BUILT RESPONSIBLY

The Home Depot Foundation believes building responsibly is a form of stewardship and is simply a smart way to build quality, affordable housing.  Established in 2005, the Awards of Excellence for Affordable Housing Built Responsibly was created in order to identify, recognize and showcase the outstanding and innovative work of nonprofit organizations in the area of design and management of affordable housing.

In order to be a competitive award applicant, housing developers should go beyond just addressing the affordability issue and focus on the health and environmental impacts of housing design and construction. Housing should be built in a sustainable manner that allows for immediate and long-term operating efficiencies to keep the housing affordable over the long-term.

Building responsibly, often referred to as "green" building, incorporates the following measures in the design and construction of housing:

• Minimize the depletion of natural resources, including timber and water
• Decrease the amount of construction waste going to landfills
• Control erosion and minimize impact on natural areas
• Increase energy efficiency and conserve water in construction and operation
• Incorporate the integration of tree and landscaping strategies to complement the built environment
• Reduce maintenance costs using innovative and durable materials
• Assess the life-cycle costs and benefits of greening the project
• Improve indoor air quality
• Control moisture and provide proper ventilation
• Use more environmentally friendly materials
• Ensure smart site planning and land use

Award Categories: There are two award categories, Homeownership and Rental.  The Foundation awards up to five grants within each category as outlined below:

• Winner – $75,000 grant
• Runner-up – $25,000 grant
• Honorable Mention – three grants of $2,500 each

The grants are to be used at the discretion of the nonprofit to further the goal of producing affordable, efficient and healthy housing for low- to moderate-income families.

Award Criteria: Projects submitted by nonprofit housing developers are evaluated against the following criteria:

• Affordability
• Creativity in addressing local housing needs
• Green building design, construction techniques and products incorporated in the project
• Innovation in financing
• Quality of design
• Replicability

Eligibility Standards:

• Must be a 501(c)(3) organization.
• Projects must be completed and placed in service between January 1, 2006 and December 31, 2007.
• Homeownership projects must contain at least five (5) units that were sold to families earning 80 percent or less of area median income.
• Rental projects must contain at least 20 units, with at least 80 percent of the units occupied by families earning 80 percent or less of area median income.
• Group home and transitional housing projects are not eligible for award consideration.
• There are no limitations as to the type of ownership structure (i.e. direct-purchase home ownership, cooperative, mutual housing, condominium, lease-purchase, land trust, etc.) or physical structure (i.e. single-family detached, townhouse, mixed-use, etc.).
• Previous national and runner-up winners are ineligible for five (5) years following award receipt.

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