The Home Depot Foundation awards $300,000 to support affordable housing for senior veterans in West Charlotte

CHARLOTTE, N.C., August 1, 2018 – DreamKey Partners has been awarded a $300,000 grant from The Home Depot Foundation (THDF) to provide housing for former service members. The grant provides for affordable veterans’ preference units at The Mulberry Senior Apartments currently under construction in West Charlotte. The 104-unit development will target lower-income seniors ages 55 and older with 21 of the units dedicated to veterans.

“We know that too many veterans struggle with issues related to housing – nearly 40,000 U.S. veterans are homeless on any given night, while several million others live with a service-connected disability,” said Erica Headlee, manager of programs for The Home Depot Foundation. “We’re honored to partner with organizations like this one to create housing solutions for veterans.”

These grant funds come at a critical time as Charlotte has very few affordable housing units with even fewer exclusively for former service members. In addition to the 21 veterans’ preference units, the development will also include 21 units for residents earning at or below 30 percent of Charlotte’s area median income (AMI), leaving the remaining 62 units for residents at or below 60 percent of AMI.

“The veteran community is one of our most vulnerable populations when it comes to housing in Charlotte and senior veterans are doubly challenged,” said Julie Porter, president of DreamKey Partners. “We strive to provide high-quality affordable housing that will allow seniors to age-in-place without threat of displacement, which is why this grant award is so vital to helping us house our heroes.”

The Mulberry Senior Apartments will feature a fitness center, computer lab, community space and individual laundry facilities, as well as storage rooms. The development is in close proximity to the new VA Health Center, retail services and bus stops. The anticipated rent for a one-bedroom ranges from $295 to $585 per month and $350 to $685 per month for a two-bedroom, which is well below Charlotte’s current market rent of $1,040 and $1,169, respectively.

Anyone interested in applying to live at The Mulberry Senior Apartments should contact the property manager at 704.900.7760.

ABOUT DreamKey Partners
DreamKey Partners is a broad-based, private, nonprofit housing development and financial corporation organized in 1988 to expand affordable and well-maintained housing and promote stable neighborhoods for low- and moderate-income families in the City of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County. The agency provides assistance to residents of its properties to more fully enter the economic mainstream and achieve independence. For more information, please visit www.CMHP.org.

ABOUT THE HOME DEPOT FOUNDATION
The Home Depot Foundation works to improve the homes and lives of U.S. veterans, train skilled tradespeople to fill the labor gap and support communities impacted by natural disasters. Since 2011, the Foundation has invested a quarter of a billion dollars in veteran-related causes and improved more than 40,000 veteran homes and facilities in 2,500 cities. In 2018, the Foundation committed an additional $50 million dollars to train 20,000 skilled tradespeople over the next 10 years starting with separating military members and veterans, at-risk youth and members of the Atlanta Westside community. To learn more about The Home Depot Foundation and see Team Depot in action, visit thd.co/community and follow us on Snapchat, Twitter and Instagram @teamdepot and on Facebook at facebook.com/teamdepot.

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