Home Depot pro-affordable housing? Oh, the Irony

Home Depot, along with other home hardware/home furnishing stores must deal with the subprime housing crisis/defaults/ and loss of homes. Funny enough, when people don't have homes they tend to not spend money on things that you would need for a home. Martha Stewart learned that last year when stores were refusing to pick up her new home furnishing line. Home Depot must be picking that up too. Apparently home depot is now "committed to affordable housing". Bah.. yeah right. read this:


Home Depot campaign helps make affordable housing a reality
Jun. 2, 2008
The Home Depot Canada and Habitat for Humanity Canada are challenging communities across the country to help make a meaningful difference in the lives of families in need with the launch of its second annual Buy a House, Build a Home Paper House Campaign. From May 29 to June 29, Canadians can positively affect the lives of families in need of safe, decent, affordable housing by purchasing a paper house for only $2 at any Home Depot location or by donating online at www.homedepot.ca. Each dollar raised will be donated to Habitat for Humanity Canada for affordable housing projects coast-to-coast. A portion of sales from all CIL Dulux paint, CGC drywall products and Square D (a brand of Schneider Electric) electrical products will also be donated.
When Canadians purchase a paper house from The Home Depot they are not only helping to change lives across the country, they are also making a difference in their own backyard, a press release from the company stated. As part of the Paper House campaign, The Home Depot will donate a special affordable housing build grant to the Habitat for Humanity affiliate in the community that raises the most money.
The Paper House Campaign is just one part of The Home Depot’s commitment to affordable housing. Since 1996, The Home Depot has been the largest supporter of Habitat for Humanity in Canada and currently donates over $3 million in funding and products and thousands of volunteer hours each year in support of affordable housing projects coast-to-coast. The Home Depot Canada’s unique Return to Vendor Program allows returned building supplies and products to be redirected to Habitat for Humanity ReStores, where it is resold with proceeds supporting building programs.
In 2007, The Home Depot Canada supported 35 affordable housing projects through Habitat for Humanity. Combining its commitment to affordable housing with its dedication to the environment, throughout 2008 The Home Depot will support sustainable build projects to help create energy-efficient homes that provide lasting benefits to families in need.

This was basically a campaign to ensure that people would have houses and then buy stuff. The irony..because not too long ago Home Depot was evicting the poor from their homes:


Homeless evicted from Toronto's 'tent city'
Last Updated: Wednesday, September 25, 2002 12:24 PM ET
CBC News
Security officers began Tuesday morning to evict about 100 squatters living in a vacant lot in Toronto's south end that has become known as "Tent City."
Over the past few years the land has become an enclave of homeless people living in ramshackle dwellings.
Toronto Mayor Mel Lastman said the city was prepared to help the squatters. "We've got shelter space available," he said.
"We are going to do everything we can to help these people with drug and alcohol addiction."
Security officers hired by Home Depot, the renovation supply and hardware company that owns the land, began removing the homeless people as police stood by to keep order and to arrest squatters resisting the eviction.
Police spokeswoman Louise Gray said the squatters would be removed within a few days.
Mel LastmanCompany 'within its rights'
Home Depot said it decided to force the squatters to leave for health and safety reasons.
The company said it had been trying to find a resolution to the occupation by working with various organizations and the city. But worsening problems with drugs and prostitution forced immediate action.
The mayor said the company was within its rights to act when and how it did.
"Home Depot has the right ... to have trespassers removed off their property, and they exercised that right today using their own people," Lastman said.
Lastman noted there had been illegal garbage dumping on the land, as well as illegal hydro hookups and a number of fire code violations.
The squatters built the shantytown rather than stay in homeless shelters.
City councillor Jack Layton, who is also running for the leadership of the federal NDP, said the evictions underline the homelessness problem in the city.
"As we've been pointing out for years, we need some affordable housing built," said Layton. "At least at Tent City they'd built themselves a warm place for the winter.
"Now some of them will likely end up in the streets."
In June, officials from the city, province and federal government vowed to clean up Tent City and other areas of Toronto's waterfront. RECOMMEND this Post on Progressive Bloggers CLICK HERE!