Deadline: March 31, 2009

The Home Depot Foundation's Awards of Excellence for Affordable Housing Built Responsibly program is designed to identify, recognize, and showcase the outstanding and innovative work of nonprofit organizations across the United States working in the areas of affordable housing and public-private partnerships that use urban forestry to create healthier and more vibrant communities.

In order to be a competitive award applicant, housing developers should go beyond 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.

There are two award categories: Homeownership and Rental. The foundation awards up to five grants within each category. The winning organization will receive a grant of $75,000, a runner-up will receive a grant of $25,000, and three honorable mentions will receive 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.

Projects submitted by nonprofit housing developers are evaluated according to criteria, including affordability, creativity in addressing local housing needs, green building design, construction techniques and products incorporated in the project, innovation in financing, quality of design, and replicability.

Award applicants must be 501c3 organizations. Projects must have been completed and placed in service between January 1, 2007, and December 31, 2008. Homeownership projects must contain at least five units that were sold to families earning 80 percent or less of area median income. Rental projects must contain at least twenty units, with at least 80 percent of the units occupied by families earning 80 percent or less of area median income.

For more information, visit Home Depot Foundation Awards of Excellence for Affordable Housing Built Responsibly.