Atlanta — The Home Depot Foundation today announced a 10-year, $100 million commitment to support efforts to make communities healthier and more stable. The funds will be invested to address two areas of vital concern: access to affordable, healthy homes for working families, and planting and preserving community trees in urban areas. In total, the pledge will support the development of 100,000 affordable, healthy homes, and the planting and preservation of more than 3 million community trees over the next decade.

"Through this commitment, The Home Depot Foundation is demonstrating its leadership in taking a comprehensive, long-term approach to improving the health and stability of local communities," said Kelly Caffarelli, executive director of The Home Depot Foundation. "The Home Depot Foundation views houses as providing more than just shelter and thinks about trees as providing more than just shade. We believe in creating environments – both inside a home and outside in a community – that contribute to the financial stability, personal success, physical health and overall well-being of our neighbors."

The Home Depot Foundation is making this long-term commitment because many local communities are facing enormous housing, health and environmental challenges. The lack of affordable, healthy homes for working families is emerging as a national crisis as the incomes of working families have failed to keep pace with the rising costs of housing. Today the demand for affordable, healthy homes exceeds the supply by a record 5.3 million units and more than 14 million families pay more than 50 percent of their income for housing, leaving little for their expenses. At the same time, asthma has reached near epidemic rates with more then 6.5 million children experiencing breathing problems caused by unhealthy indoor air quality, which can be significantly more polluted than outside air.

By supporting the construction of environmentally responsible homes that bring benefits including reduced utility bills, better indoor air quality, lower maintenance expenses of durable materials and easy access to transportation, employment and recreational spaces, The Home Depot Foundation is working to provide housing options that are more affordable and healthier for the long term.

The Home Depot Foundation also works to help communities address the many economic, social and environmental issues facing urban areas through the strategic use of trees. Trees reduce energy use by cooling urban areas in the summer and providing shelter in the winter. In fact, placing trees properly in a yard can reduce a home’s energy usage by 30 percent. Trees also provide natural infrastructure that controls stormwater runoff and erosion, reducing the need for cities to undertake expensive public works projects. Moreover, areas with adequate tree cover experience less crime, and residential property values increase by up to 20 percent. Over the past three decades, America has lost 30 percent of its urban forest, which is equal to the removal of more than 600 million trees.

Population increases, urban sprawl, improper care and poor management all contribute to this threat to our nation’s tree canopy. The Home Depot Foundation works with organizations throughout the country to engage neighbors in planting and maintaining the large trees that are essential to building and sustaining healthy communities.

"Whether we are helping a policeman afford to live in the city he protects or providing a healthy, safe place to play for hundreds of children in Minneapolis by planting 100 shade trees in their local park, our 10-year pledge is aimed at impacting people’s lives in a positive, personal way," added Caffarelli. "The projects and organizations we support provide tangible benefits to individuals and families as they save on their monthly bills, have fewer visits to the doctor and enjoy a better quality of life."

Since its formation in 2002, The Home Depot Foundation has granted nearly $30 million to support the building and preservation of more than 40,000 affordable, healthy homes and to help plant and preserve more than one million community trees.

Over the past five years, The Home Depot Foundation has partnered with leading non-profit organizations, including: Alliance for Community Trees, Enterprise Community Partners, Inc., Global Green USA, Housing Assistance Council, Local Initiatives Support Corporation, National Arbor Day Foundation, National Building Museum, NeighborWorks America, U.S. Conference of Mayors and U.S. Green Building Council, among others.

For more information, visit www.homedepotfoundation.org.