HOUSING ABUNDANCE

Funders Together Advocacy (including, but not limited to) 

Reform 

Transformation 

• Align with housing and homelessness asks for FY2024 and FY2025 from the National Low Income Housing Coalition and National Alliance to End Homelessness and use our organizational voice and influence to push these asks at a federal level. 

• Advocate for government reparations for Indigenous and Black communities by funding researchers to estimate the wealth lost by these communities due to land and labor theft and pay individual descendants and impacted communities in 2024-dollar values (in accordance with Homes Guarantee, pg 14) 
• Advocate for the federal government to institutionalize a reparations initiative in the form of money and land that will reconcile the wealth inequities within Black and Indigenous communities.  

Examples of Philanthropy’s Role in Supporting Housing Abundance Advocacy 

Reform 

Transformation 

• If you are a public foundation or United Way and can engage in direct lobbying, call on members of Congress to weigh in directly with leadership and urge them to increase federal resources for affordable housing and homelessness programs.  
• If you are a private foundation or unable to partake in direct lobbying activities, contact your federal policymakers to educate and inform them about what you are seeing in your community and hearing from grantee partners around affordable housing and housing instability 

• Provide flexible rapid response resources for housing justice narrative and messaging work around government reparations. 
• Provide the spaciousness to strategize around government reparations by supporting convening opportunities for partners, people with lived experience, funder peers, and community leaders across justice movements. 
• Abundantly resource “the ecosystem of organizations working to advance reparations as well as build a culture of repair that centers the healing, wellbeing, and safety of Black people.” (from Liberation Ventures and Bridgespan Group) 

THRIVING COMMUNITIES

Funders Together Advocacy (including, but not limited to) 

Reform 

Transformation 

• Engage in actions to protect the right to safe, adequate, and affordable housing for all people and non-discrimination from shelters, including new arrivals, LGBTQ+ people, young people, and other communities who are marginalized. 
• Support a National Tenants’ Bill of Rights to stabilize rent and protect tenants’ ability to organize. 
• Support anti-criminalization efforts at all level and protect the rights of people experiencing homelessness 

• Promote housing within the context of a Green New Deal through robust investment in green housing and divestment in environmental extraction, particularly within communities impacted by environmental racism (in accordance with NDN Collective’s Mobilizing an Indigenous Green New Deal, page 6; and Homes Guarantee, page 18-19) 

Examples of Philanthropy’s Role in Supporting Thriving Communities Advocacy 

Reform 

Transformation 

• Produce op-eds or other educational media placements on the importance of upholding and resourcing best practices, along with local evidence/stories. 
• Resource local organizers with general operating grants and/or flexible funding that can be used towards advocacy efforts related to anti-criminalization activities. 
• Support and invest in transformational local and state ballot initiatives to structurally change the budget by reallocating funding from existing locally controlled revenue to community investment, affordable housing, and homelessness prevention for housing justice 

• Provide flexible rapid response resources for housing justice narrative and messaging work around social housing/decommodification. 
• Resource rest and joy for organizers and advocates who are transformational work. While some foundations are unable to engage in supporting ballot measures and other local initiatives, funding capacity for ample recovery and healing for community partners on the ground is another critical component of effective advocacy. 

PEOPLE POWER

Funders Together Advocacy (including, but not limited to) 

Reform 

Transformation 

• Engaging in activities to protect and expand voters rights, particularly for people experiencing homelessness or housing insecurity in communities of color, and others who may lack a stable physical address. 

• Advocate and organize around robust federal, state, and local investment and policies to decommodify housing to be permanently affordable through social housing structures, particularly green social housing. (in accordance with Alliance for Housing Justice Social Housing Principles) 

Examples of Philanthropy’s Role in Supporting People Power Advocacy 

Reform 

Transformation 

(Adapted from Voting Rights Under Fire Philanthropy’s Role in Protecting and Strengthening American Democracy):  

• Invest in multi-year core support (during both election and non-election years) for on-the-ground organizations, particularly BIPOC led and centered, who are mobilizing around voting rights and protections for marginalized communities. 
• Resource voting rights litigation strategies against efforts to disenfranchise and suppress voters, especially for under-resourced community-based organizations that are rooted in racial equity and justice. 
• Abundantly support organizing efforts such as canvassing, rallies, on-site voter registration, and translation services in communities most impacted by suppression.  
• Provide the ability to convene and share space for collaboration and movement-building across organizations working on voting rights and protections for people impacted by homelessness and/or housing insecurity with other cross-sector organizations. 

• Provide long-term flexible rapid response resources for housing justice narrative and messaging work around social housing/decommodification that can be used for immediate needs and build towards affirmative visions. 
• Lead and model the process both internally and externally of acknowledging that existing systems are broken and structurally racist. Push community stakeholders to prioritize rebuilding new resilient, anti-racist systems and fund capacity for people with lived expertise to be at the table to make decisions on the rebuilding.