Home Properties Makes Green Living Initiatives Top Priority at 113 Apartment Communities

ROCHESTER, N.Y., Aug. 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Home Properties (NYSE: HME) today announced its continued commitment to a greener environment at its 113 apartment communities primarily located in Northeast and Mid-Atlantic markets through the completion and expansion of several environmentally-conscious programs.

"Going green is not just a one-time initiative for Home Properties," said Scott Doyle, Senior Vice President of Home Properties. "It's a way of caring for the environment – and for our 72,000 residents."

Home Properties focuses on improving existing environmentally-friendly programs and exploring new ways to make green living a top priority at all of its apartment communities. Energy efficiency is an area where Home Properties continues to make impressive progress. Through utilities sub-metering programs, residents have the opportunity to reduce energy consumption in their apartments by 10 to 30 percent each year. Newly developed Home Properties apartments are built with energy efficiency as a primary goal, following standards established by the U.S. Green Building Council.

Water-saving toilets, showerheads, and faucet attachments are being installed in apartments, along with Energy Star-compliant appliances. Traditional, incandescent light bulbs are being replaced with energy-saving Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs (CFLs). New residents are given move-in gifts with a green focus. Green cleaning supplies, reusable grocery bags, water bottles, and CFL bulbs are shared with all new residents, along with helpful tips to further conserve water and electricity in their apartment. In addition, many Home Properties apartments are accessible to public transportation, allowing residents to further reduce their carbon footprint.

"As a company, our thought was to expose residents to those energy-saving choices now, along with other ideas to live in a more environmentally mindful community that we are proud to help them create," said Doyle. "Home Properties is always looking for ways to keep moving forward as we make greener lifestyle choices, and we actively involve our residents in that evolving process."

A reported 65% of Home Properties' 113 apartment communities have established recycling programs – some that were even started by employees and residents working together, like the one at Ridgeview at Wakefield Valley in Westminster, Maryland. Company leadership plans on working with employees and residents to increase that percentage in the coming year.

In addition, Home Properties has partnered with a company that provides recycling services for various items regularly used at apartment communities, including CFL bulbs, batteries, and thermostats. Home Properties' communities order recycling containers, fill them with these used items, and ship them back for recycling.

At the corporate level, company letterhead is printed on recycled paper stock and the use of electronic communication is preferred, to reduce the need for printing. Employees are also encouraged to recycle, travel on mass transit systems to work, and take the stairs to promote a healthier lifestyle.

Home Properties is a publicly traded apartment real estate investment trust that owns, operates, develops, acquires and rehabilitates apartment communities primarily in selected Northeast and Mid-Atlantic markets.  Currently, Home Properties operates 113 communities containing 38,019 apartment units.  Of these, 37,151 units in 112 communities are owned directly by the Company and 868 units are partially owned and managed by the Company as general partner.  For more information, visit Home Properties' website at homeproperties.com.

SOURCE Home Properties

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