No matter where we are from or where we live, having a safe, stable place to call home is the foundation of our well-being and health.
No matter where we are from or where we live, having a safe, stable place to call home is the foundation of our well-being and health.
FHO believes that housing is a platform for achieving better life outcomes and thriving communities for all of us. Investing in safe, stable, affordable places to call home has ripple effects throughout all parts of a community by:
Creating Healthier Communities
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Being able to afford your home means having money in the budget for preventative and needed healthcare and fresh, healthy food.
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Seniors with stable housing are healthier and more connected. Mental health outcomes improve, and there are fewer trips to the emergency room.
Strengthening Our Schools
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When children have stable housing, academic performance and graduation rates increase and parents are more able to participate in their children’s school experience.
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Affordable housing increases community college enrollments and helps recruit capable, committed teachers.
Building Economic Mobility
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Having an affordable, stable home increases financial security, builds generational wealth, and provides a cushion to weather economic disruptions in health or employment.
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Living near transit and job centers reduces the cost of commuting, increases career prospects, and helps employers attract and retain workers.
Achieving Environmental Justice and Sustainability
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A home that is built to improve the environment improves the lives of those living inside it.
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The climate crisis and structural inequities in housing and transportation share the same origins. Neighborhoods that historically suffered redlining face a far higher risk of flooding and other environmental challenges.
THE OPPORTUNITY OF THIS MOMENT
America’s housing system was built on a long legacy of inequality and racism. For decades, our housing policies meant only some families could rent or own homes in thriving neighborhoods without fear of displacement, where they could access quality education and healthcare and pass wealth to the next generation. While millions of others have been relegated to unstable and often unsafe housing— with few pathways for advancement or protection in times of crisis.
COVID-19 and the co-occurring economic fallout exacerbated the already deep racial wealth gap that engulfs many communities across our country, hindering our nation’s ability to fully live up to the promise of our values.
Our nation deserves better. Today, we have the chance to reimagine a system that is inherently unjust and work to build one that underscores the values of equity, inclusion, and shared prosperity. Study after study shows that Americans agree - we all deserve a safe home.
STRATEGY AND FUNDING PRIORITIES
Members of Funders for Housing and Opportunity understand that housing is a cross-sector issue, that housing security creates pathways to opportunities, and that the scale of the affordable housing and displacement crisis cannot be addressed in isolation. The collaborative seeks to invest in the power and capacity of organizations working to bring about housing justice.
As a funder collaborative, FHO centers racial justice in every aspect of our work and supports the leadership of Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC). We support efforts to build power for BIPOC communities whose housing costs are unsustainable to have a say in the cross-sector systems that impact their lives and to advance anti-racist housing policies that move toward alignment at the grassroots/local, state and national levels. We seek out partners who understand the value of a safe and affordable home as a basic necessity for everyone in our country. We work with those partners to elevate housing justice as a critical priority.
To this end, Funders for Housing and Opportunity is making transformative investments across three complementary, interdependent priorities:
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Policy, Advocacy, and Organizing: Advancing policy, organizing, and advocacy efforts that strengthen and improve policies, protections, and investments in quality, equitable, affordable housing for lower-income people, for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color whose rental housing costs are unsustainable, and for people experiencing homelessness.
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Narrative Change: Shifting the narrative so that more people understand why housing is a basic necessity for everyone, is more than a commodity, and is connected to all other areas of opportunity (like health, education, transportation, the environment, civil rights, and resilience).
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Elevating What Works: Highlighting cross-sector solutions and amplifying what works by funding community-driven local- and state-level initiatives that ensure housing affordability and redress racial inequities in housing.
The coordination of these priorities allows FHO to pursue systems change at scale and contribute to better housing options and improved opportunities for millions of Americans in our nation today. To find a list of our funded projects click here.
THEORY OF CHANGE
