Our History

The Fund for Housing and Opportunity (FHO) is a nationwide collaborative working to protect renters and prevent homelessness. FHO brings the nation’s leading funders together from across sectors and perspectives to support organizations on the frontlines of housing justice. We serve as a bridge for learning and alignment between funders and grassroots housing justice advocates, especially people who have been directly impacted by housing injustice.  

 

FHO’s partners and members—many of which primarily work on issues such as education, health care, poverty, and civil society—have come together because they all understand the importance of housing stability as a necessary and fundamental first step toward achieving the outcomes their foundations seek to advance. FHO believes that housing is a platform for achieving better life outcomes and thriving communities for all of us.

​

To date, the Fund for Housing and Opportunity has provided over $25 million in investments to projects, organizations, and communities to advance thoughtful housing policies, narrative change, and innovative solutions that work. FHO's grantmaking stems from the understanding that our work at this moment is critical to the resilience of our communities and the future of our nation.

​

OUR HISTORY

​

Recognizing that housing is a complex issue that requires a deep and thoughtful understanding of how housing is developed in our country, a core group of funders came together in 2016 to contribute their expertise to an effort to improve housing outcomes across our nation.  But first, the group listened to housing stakeholders across the country.  What we heard from across these stakeholders helped us to understand the opportunity and imperative to responsibly redesign housing systems across this country. In 2018, we formally joined forces to establish Funders for Housing and Opportunity.

​

As a collaborative fund, FHO and our members emphasize continued learning and reflection. Our "Collaboration for Housing Justice Series" highlighted key ideas and lessons from our efforts. We also dig deeper into what we’ve learned about getting the most out of funder collaboratives in our report Housing Justice and Systems Change Through a Funder Collaborative.

​

More recently, we decided to change our name to the Fund for Housing and Opportunity to reflect our core value that the people closest to the problem are closest to the solution. We continue to evolve from a funder-centric model to more trust-based and restorative philanthropic practices. ​​​​​​