Habitat for Humanity, Lowe’s host International Women Build Day

Women in 18 communities spotlight need for safe, affordable housing

Habitat for Humanity, Lowe’s and hundreds of women volunteers united in 18 communities in the United States, Canada and India for the first International Women Build Day.

The global event focused on building and improving 30 homes while raising awareness about affordable housing issues facing women and their families. The build day was also a tribute to International Women’s Day, March 8.

For many, the ability to own and afford a home is an unattainable dream.

• Nearly one in six U.S. families spend half or more of their income on a place to live, forcing them to choose between housing and other critical needs like food, health care, childcare, education and reliable transportation.
• In Canada, one in eight households do not meet the country’s core housing standards of adequacy, suitability or affordability.
• In India, the urban housing shortage stands at 18.78 million units, out of which about 96 percent is considered in the economically weaker section and low-income group categories.
• The need is especially critical in Lowe’s hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina, which ranked last in a study on economic mobility. Fifty women volunteers gathered at a Charlotte Lowe’s store to frame a home for a single mother and her son. Her home will be the first on a street that will be named Red Vest Way, showing Lowe’s commitment to affordable housing and honoring the company’s red vest associates for their volunteer hours spent building Habitat homes.

Globally, Lowe’s volunteers worked on eight new construction home projects in Bangalore, India. In Canada, a team of 20 women from the Lowe’s Canada network helped build a new and affordable home in partnership with a local family in Montréal’s Saint-Henri neighborhood.

U.S. cities hosting builds included: Charlotte and Lake Norman, North Carolina; Washington, D.C.; Seattle; Nashville, Tennessee; Los Angeles; Philadelphia; Austin, Houston and Fort Worth, Texas; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Indianapolis; Phoenix; Boston; and Orlando and Tampa, Florida.

Since 2008, Lowe’s has supported Habitat’s Women Build program in the U.S. and has helped build, renovate or repair 5,290 homes.