Nearly one week after the Supreme Court delivered its Johnson v. Grants Pass ruling, funders from around the country gathered in Washington, D.C., during the 2024 Funders Institute to discuss our next steps as a movement, explore how to advance Indigenous housing justice, and engage in peer learning alongside national housing justice partners.
Creating Spaciousness For a More Just and Liberated Future
Amanda Andere, CEO of Funders Together to End Homelessness, talks about the importance of finding joy and creating spaciousness in order for us to create a new future.
To kick off our 2024 Funders Institute, Funders Together CEO Amanda Andere grounded attendees by acknowledging the challenging times that we find ourselves in. In the aftermath of the Grants Pass decision and the crises happening around the world, finding hope and joy amidst all this trauma can be incredibly difficult. However, it is especially during these difficult times that it is important for philanthropy to help envision a new future.
“We have a responsibility as funders, as folks in philanthropy, as leaders in the movement. In this moment, we have to create the spaciousness for us to dream about what a more liberated and just world would look like,” said Amanda.
To model this, Amanda announced that Funders Together will donate part of the proceeds of the event to the local Piscataway Conway tribe. Since 2022, Funders Together has donated to a local Native organization to shift access, power, and resources back to Indigenous people.
What’s Next? Staying Focused on Housing Justice After Johnson v. Grants Pass
Moderator Dr. Tiffany Manuel introduces Antonia Fasanelli, Executive Director of the National Homelessness Law Center, who shared about how they organized ahead of the Supreme Court ruling.
Back in April, the Supreme Court announced that it had decided to hear oral arguments for the case Johnson v. Grants Pass. At its core, the case would decide whether cities can punish people for things like sleeping outside, even when there are no safe shelter options. This was the most significant case about homelessness to come before the Supreme Court in several decades.
Panelists described how housing justice advocates came together in coalition and intentional collaboration leading up to the Supreme Court decision. The National Coalition for Housing Justice was essential in bringing together more than 30 national organizations and coordinating a unified response.
Organizations like the National Homelessness Law Center, the Housing Narrative Lab, and Funders Together to End Homelessness, each used their unique strengths to organize around the case. Dana White from Miriam's Kitchen in Washington, D.C. also highlighted how local and national organizations shared strategies about how to best advocate for people experiencing homelessness.
Ahead of the ruling, the Housing Narrative Lab conducted nationwide research on the most effective messaging about homelessness. This included finding out what stories resonated the most with people and organizing a coordinated campaign around it. “Narrative is an organizing strategy,” said Sarah Armour-Jones, Deputy Director of the Housing Narrative Lab.
The research highlighted the profound levels of housing insecurity. More than two-thirds of people surveyed had a personal connection to homelessness or housing insecurity. The Housing Narrative Lab then published a report with their findings and settled upon a simple message: ticketing or fining unhoused people doesn’t solve homelessness, housing does.
Under the leadership of the National Homelessness Law Center, 42 amicus briefs were filed in support of the plaintiffs. On the day of oral arguments, more than 700 attendees came out to a rally outside the Supreme Court to declare that ticketing and fining unhoused people when they have nowhere else to go is wrong. In addition, the Law Center acted as an intermediary, helping distribute the funds that they had collected directly to the people with lived experience and advocates who spoke at the event. The newfound energy and national attention brought to the case extended to local municipalities too, where over 30 other rallies took place in cities across the country.
Funders Together CEO Amanda Andere delivers remarks at the Housing, Not Handcuffs rally on the day of the Johnson v. Grants Pass hearings.
On June 28th, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Grants Pass, and set a path forward that would allow jurisdictions to arrest, ticket, or fine people experiencing homelessness. Despite this setback, the momentum and the unprecedented way the field came together was significant. "It was a loss in the ruling, but a win in the organizing," said Dr. Tiffany Manuel, Executive Director of TheCaseMade. As a result of the organizing and narrative work around the case, people across the country are beginning to think about homelessness differently by making the connection to housing access and the housing affordability crisis.
In addition, prior to the campaign and the rally, very few people had heard about the Supreme Court case, but now it is part of a national dialogue. "Every community across the country is now having this conversation," added Dr. Tiffany Manuel. Building upon this momentum, the panelists also offered new insights about what funders can do to effectively organize for housing justice after the Supreme Court ruling:
- Invest in permanent supportive housing and bold, innovative solutions that work. The research shows that interventions like permanent supportive housing are effective in addressing homelessness. At the same time, it is important to support innovative solutions, such as direct cash transfers, which have been effective in keeping folks housed and addressing people's basic needs.
- Protect the rights of unhoused people and organize around changing policy. The National Homelessness Law Center has teamed up with local organizations like the Western Regional Advocacy Project to offer emergency legal assistance for unhoused individuals facing ticketing or fines. The Law Center connected these legal experts to local organizers who are trying to repeal laws that allow local governments to punish unhoused people. This approach, also known as the legal defense legal defense clinic model, plays a vital role in safeguarding the rights of unhoused people in various states and municipalities following the SCOTUS ruling.
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Develop a strong, unified narrative strategy. The events leading up to the Johnson v. Grants Pass rally proved that changing the narratives around homelessness is possible when we build up the infrastructure to do so. By investing directly in narrative and communications work, we can transform public opinion and advocate for policies rooted in housing justice.
- Commit to racial and housing justice. The effects of the Supreme Court case will disproportionately affect people of color. Housing justice is inseparable from racial justice and both are needed to address housing insecurity and homelessness. This means that funders must take an intersectional approach to address homelessness and center those that will be most affected by the ruling.
- Build coalitions for change. Because of organizations like the National Coalition for Housing Justice, the field was able to create a unified response in ways that it has never done before. Funders can support these coalitions, both local and national, to create the spaciousness and capacity needed for long-term planning and advocacy.
In closing, the panelists acknowledged the devastating impacts that the Supreme Court ruling is likely to have on people experiencing homelessness. However, as Antonia Fasanelli reflected, "Despite the heartbreak that we felt over the loss of the case, we always saw it as just a moment. Homelessness wasn't going to end with a court decision, even if we won the case. It was an opportunity to strengthen our movement and to really build power to advocate for change."
Resources
- 2024 Funders Institute Opening Plenary Recording
- Blog: Funders Together Condemns Supreme Court Decision
- Funder Briefing Recording: SCOTUS Decision on Johnson v. Grants Pass
Funder Strategy Tables: Building Relationships to Advance Housing Justice
After the opening plenary, funders gathered to strategize around how to advance housing justice after the SCOTUS decision. One attendee shared how their organization partnered with the National Homelessness Law Center to support a collective national response focused on educating the public about humane, housing-centered solutions to homelessness. The foundation saw this as a crucial moment to center people with lived experience and elevate evidence-based solutions to homelessness in a coordinated, strategic way. This approach embodied the saying "nothing about us without us" and underscored the foundation's commitment to locally-led development.
Other funders gathered in small groups to discuss topics such as how philanthropy can support local organizers and people with lived experience, advance anti-criminalization efforts and re-entry work, drive narrative change, and promote advocacy and policy change. After reflecting upon the morning's panel, one of the participants said:
"I really appreciated the opening plenary focused on advocacy around Johnson v. Grants Pass. The panelists described key achievements leading up to the decision, including elevating the issue of housing justice in the media and beginning to shift public opinion about the true causes of homelessness, which can help to strengthen future advocacy efforts. It was a good reminder that even if the desired policy win isn’t secured in the short-term, important benchmarks can be achieved that help strengthen movements long-term—which is also a win. This is something I’ll remember as I think about our grantees’ work."
- Elizabeth Olsson, Program Officer, Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies
Resources
‘Our Land is Our Home': Supporting Housing Justice for Native People
The afternoon session featured a conversation with Native leaders to explore what housing justice means for Indigenous communities. As Funders Together's Director of Networks Michael Durham shared in his framing remarks, Funders Together aspires to be pro-Black and pro-Indigenous, according to our vision statement, and we have been on a learning journey to understand how we actualize this commitment. Earlier this year, we hosted a webinar on Indigenous Self-Determination, Decolonization, and Housing Justice and several staff members attended the Native Americans in Philanthropy Conference in April. These conversations set the stage for the afternoon panel about Native housing justice.
Nikki Pieratos, Executive Director of the Tiwahe Foundation, shared how Indigenous communities are rooted in family structures and kinship and how "Tiwahe" means family in Lakota and Dakota.
As the Executive Director of the Tiwahe Foundation, Nikki Pieratos shared that at the core of Indigenous values is kinship. By asking the question, "What would you do for family?" it changes the relationship between philanthropy and communities, from one that is purely transactional to one that is focused on community and mutual care. By extension, Indigenizing philanthropy means treating every grantee-partner like you would your own family and building relationships rooted in trust.
"Indigenous core cultural values are human values. The rest of the world just forgot," affirmed Janeen Comenote, Executive Director of the National Urban Indian Family Coalition. It is exactly by leaning into these values that we can come up with the solutions to houselessness (a term many Native people prefer because the land is their home). The speakers traced the disruption of Native family systems and houselessness in Native communities directly to colonization. Through generations of displacement and removal from their land, Native communities have faced immense trauma and violence that have directly contributed to Native houselessness.
Connecting this session back to the morning's opening plenary, Mel Willie, Director of Native Partnerships and Strategy at NeighborWorks America, noted that tribal governments will not use the tools that SCOTUS endorsed to punish or arrest unhoused members of their community. "Criminalizing homelessness is antithetical to our belief systems as Native people. It is just not heard of," they said.
In her remarks, Janeen Comenote explored how collectivist Indigenous values are the same ones that are the solution to addressing houselessness.
The panelists also distinguished between Native houselessness in urban areas and those on tribal reservations. Although many people associate Native Americans with reservations, 71% of Native people live in urban areas and face a different set of challenges. For instance, for Native people living in urban areas, overcrowding can be a challenge because many people live in multi-generational households. Meanwhile, for tribal communities, there is often a lack of investment and funding for affordable housing, to the point that many people leave the reservations entirely.
What can philanthropy do to help address these challenges? To start, funders can help build capacity for Native-led organizations. As organizations that know their communities the best, they have unique insights to the needs of their population. Currently, less than half a percent of philanthropic dollars go directly to Native communities. To improve this, foundations can fund locally to Native organizations working in urban areas and contribute directly to tribal governments. Additionally, funders can invest in positions dedicated to navigating local policy, empowering Native people with the tools they need to advocate effectively for their communities.
After listening to the Native housing justice afternoon panel, Becca Allen, Senior Program Officer from the Melville Charitable Trust, commented:
“Every time I attend a Funders Institute, I come away with a deeper understanding of housing justice and how to apply it to our work. This summer, Funders Together organized a panel to better understand the role funders can play in ending houselessness for Native peoples. The panelists who were all Native folks were so compelling that I left wanting to know more and plan on attending the next Native Americans in Philanthropy conference. Funders Together is so good at planting the seeds.”
Resources
- 2024 Funders Institute Native Housing Justice Recording
- Blog: Indigenizing Philanthropy for Housing Justice
- Webinar Recording: Indigenous Self-Determination, Decolonization, & Housing Justice
Case Consultations: Shared Accountability Towards Housing Justice
The case consultations allowed attendees to provide feedback and recommendations to their peers about how they could advance housing justice.
Modeled after the case consultations from Funders Together’s Foundations for Racial Equity community of practice, each presenter introduced a challenge they were facing, answered clarifying questions from their peers, and listened to feedback and recommendations about the case. The presenter then had an opportunity to share what they learned from their peers and the pieces of advice they planned to implement.
After attending her first Funders Institute and witnessing the dynamic discussions during the case consultations, Rachel Sherman Executive Director of the Wilson Foundation, remarked:
“This was my first Funders Institute, and it exceeded my expectations. I made valuable connections with my peers and marveled at the power of the village during a case consultation as ideas popped and synergies flowed. The session on Indigenous philanthropy inspired me to dive deeper into the data regarding Native peoples experiencing homelessness and housing instability in our service area of Rochester, New York. Thanks to a Funders Together staff book recommendation, I am now learning from the wisdom of Sherri Mitchell's Sacred Instructions.”
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