Home Depot announced that the company will be donating $50 million to train construction workers in order to boost the industry.
The fund will be used to train 20,000 people as construction workers, helping efforts to ease a dire shortage that’s curtailing home building and driving up house prices.
The Home Builders Institute will train veterans and U.S. Army soldiers who will soon be returning to civilian life, high school students and disadvantaged youth.
This donation will be added to the existing $250 million being used to provide housing for veterans through 2020.
Residential construction employment fell by 1.5 million during the housing crash and payrolls have risen by 786,000 since the recovery began in 2011.
Due to the labor shortage only 900,000 single-family homes are expected to be built this year, but there’s demand for 1.3 million homes.
Although existing-home sales fell for the second straight month in January and the median sale price was up 5.8% annually to $240,500.
