Fund for Housing and Opportunity

The Collaborative Effect: Grantee Perspectives on How Collaborative Funds Work Best » Philanthropy Together The Collaborative Effect provides one of the most comprehensive examinations of how collaborative funds operate and how grantees experience their impact

FHO was honored to be chosen by our peers as one of 22 high-performing collaborative funds for an in-depth study on how effective collaborative funding impacts grantees. Download it @ bit.ly/collabeffectreport 🧵

Trump signs order pushing cities and states to remove homeless people from streets President Trump wants to make it easier for cities and states to move homeless people to treatment centers under new executive action he's taking.

"'The safest communities are those with the most housing and resources, not those that make it a crime to be poor or sick,' said Jesse Rabinowitz of the National Homelessness Law Center" (@homeless-law.bsky.social)‬
www.usatoday.com/story/news/p...

At the Fund For Housing and Opportunity, we believe rest is a practice of care and a way to restore our commitment to each other and to the long work ahead. | Jeanne (Reitz) Fekade-Sellassie At the Fund For Housing and Opportunity, we believe rest is a practice of care and a way to restore our commitment to each other and to the long work ahead. I will be taking a 12-week sabbatical begin...

FHO Exec. Director Jeanne Fekade-Sellassie is taking sabbatical July 21-Oct 10! During this time, Deputy Director Jennifer Angarita will serve as acting ED. At FHO, we rest as essential to sustaining ourselves and our work for housing and racial justice. 🌿
www.linkedin.com/posts/jeanne...

With Congress debating tax changes & funding cuts, join Tax Equity Funders Network, FHO & Funders Together to End Homelessness on June 10 to understand how funders can leverage the tax code to protect communities, support equitable policies & drive impact. www.taxequityfunders.org/events-posts...

How the Trump Administration Is Weakening the Enforcement of Fair Housing Laws Starting with cases involving sexual orientation and identity, HUD is hobbling enforcement of the Fair Housing Act.

“It’ll give free rein to companies, to states, to governments to take advantage of people, to refuse to respect their rights, without fear of response from the government...no one will hold them accountable.” #fairhousing @shelterforce.bsky.social @propublica.org shelterforce.org/2025/05/15/t...

Under ‘Crime-Free Housing’ Laws, Families May Be Evicted for Minor Offenses An investigation by The New York Times and the Illinois Answers Project shows that many cities in Illinois have turned crime-free housing programs into a blunt instrument to oust families for virtuall...

"Many cities require tenants to sign crime-free leases that are so broad that virtually any perceived violation could be grounds for eviction, even if the allegations are never fully investigated or proved." news.wttw.com/2025/05/14/u...

How the Trump Administration Is Weakening the Enforcement of Fair Housing Laws Starting with cases involving sexual orientation and identity, the Department of Housing and Urban Development is hobbling enforcement of the Fair Housing Act. Said one HUD attorney: “People are reall...

Investigations frozen.
Charges withheld.
Defendants emboldened not to cooperate.

The Trump administration is mounting a major retreat in the government's fight against housing discrimination and segregation, according to ten federal officials. Story here: www.propublica.org/article/trum...

Renting is precarious across the country, but some states have more tenant protections than others. NHLP’s Eric Dunn contributed to @consumeraffairs.bsky.social report about how tenants can navigate the market, even when most of us feel like it isn’t working. www.consumeraffairs.com/moving/best-...

60,000 people set to prematurely lose federal housing assistance The Emergency Housing Vouchers program was supposed to last through 2030, but funding will probably run out sometime next year.

Well said, Kim Johnson @nlihc.org: "The end of the program represents 'an awful cycle': Our assistance ran out because rent is too expensive, so...figure out how to pay for your expensive rent on your own even though you couldn’t afford it.” @washingtonpost.com www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2025/...

Coverage from @nextcity.org on our latest report on the health impact of private equity on mobile home communities 🗞️

And read our full report, Home Sick, here: humanimpact.org/hipprojects/...

When little kids don’t have stable housing, it can affect their health later Researchers following a group of American children for decades found that even short periods of housing instability increased the chances of poor mental and physical health years later.

This can lead to housing insecurity for kids and can have long-term impacts on their health and development. We can keep families stably housed by preserving affordable housing and protecting tenants.

www.npr.org/sections/sho...

Trump Seeks to End Permanent Supportive Housing for the Chronically Homeless (Gift Article) More than 300,000 people live in such housing, all chronically homeless and disabled. Many are veterans.

Permanent supportive housing emerged three decades ago as a solution to chronic homelessness, initially with bipartisan support. Proponents say it saves lives by getting chronically homeless people off the streets, where they die at high rates.

www.nytimes.com/2025/05/02/u...

How Much Rental Assistance Did Your Community Receive During the Pandemic? Over the course of 2021 and 2022, the U.S. carried out an unprecedented experiment: we invested $46.55 billion to help Americans pay rent when they fell behind. Here we provide insight into how this m...

🚨 NEW: A groundbreaking database from the Eviction Lab, the Housing Initiative at Penn, and the Urban Displacement Project reveals how $46B in emergency rental aid was distributed by states, counties and cities.

evictionlab.org/pandemic-ren...

The links between unstable housing and health - Business Record Children and their caregivers who live in unstable housing situations are more likely to have health-related issues than their more financially stable peers. That was keynote speaker Stephanie Ettinge...

"Children in unstable housing environments – behind on rent, moving frequently or experiencing homelessness – are more likely to be hospitalized, in poor health and have cognitive impairments than those whose families don’t struggle financially." www.businessrecord.com/the-links-be...

Millions of HUD Funds Remain Trapped in Legal Limbo. Here’s Where Things Stand. After a seemingly endless stream of HUD cuts, some federal funds for housing and homesless have been restored. But as legal challenges work their way through the courts, uncertainty remains.

NEW: I wrote a roundup of all the HUD grants that have been cancelled or frozen by the Trump administration nextcity.org/urbanist-new...

Monthly Policy Funder Call: Navigating Philanthropy’s Role in a Shifting Political Landscape Homelessness ends here.

📣Funders📣 Join us for our monthly Policy Funder Call, held jointly with Funders Together to End Homelessness. We'll take an informal chance to connect on housing and racial justice in this pivotal moment. Note this call is for funders only. www.funderstogether.org/monthly_poli...

"The spirit of the Fair Housing Act is to protect everyone who is vulnerable to discrimination, even if the text of the law does not explicitly include gender identity as a protected class" See more about recent changes in transgender protections in HUD’s housing policies: ow.ly/khlh50VN45O

Our Response to the Housing Crisis Must Include Rental Assistance, Not Just More Supply | Center on Budget and Policy Priorities In a Congress struggling to define its role during a time of political and economic upheaval, there is at least one area of broad agreement: lawmakers need to address the nation’s ever-worsening...

We can't solve the housing crisis without better supports for renters. Multiple studies have shown that rental assistance cuts #homelessness dramatically. Why not make it a priority? Read more from @centeronbudget.bsky.social: www.cbpp.org/blog/our-res...

Cultivating Philanthropic Champions to Drive Real Solutions in Today’s Threateni - Neighborhood Funders Group In this political moment, we are witnessing expedited harmful and inhumane treatment of our neighbors, particularly those who are unhoused. Politicians are exploiting the suffering in our communities ...

Community organizers and movement leaders are working tirelessly to support their communities and neighbors who are impacted most by the federal government's continued attacks. And many are wondering: Where is philanthropy in all this? 🤔

We'll dig in on May 21 -- Join us!
nfg.org/events/culti...

Last year, SCOTUS ruled cities/states can arrest & ticket people for experiencing homelessness, making homelessness worse.
Folks across the US—Housing Not Handcuffs, National Coalition for the Homeless, VOCAL-US, WRAP and more—will rally to demand Housing NOW: nationalhomeless.org/housing-now-...

Howdy! Thanks for the heads up!! Should have doublechecked that handle before posting :)

Invisible People Messaging Tooklt A recent research study we conducted at Invisible People reveals that a majority of people reject criminalizing homelessness when presented with housing-based

"We’re not just facing a crisis of housing, but a crisis of communication to reach and change minds." 💭💥

Check out this @invisiblepeople.tv toolkit for insights into how we can build understanding across different audiences to advance housing justice solutions.

invisiblepeople.tv/2025research...

How are anti-immigrant policies driving displacement and deepening the housing crisis? Join FHO, @endhomelessnesssd.bsky.social & @gcir.bsky.social on 4/23 for a funder briefing on how to support immigrant rights as a vital part of the housing justice movement.
🏡✨ RSVP: bit.ly/4ihUu6Q

Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Nikole Hannah-Jones at
@nlihc.bsky.social's Policy Forum: “People who control the narrative control the policies."

Inequality we experience is not natural nor innate. Reshaping narrative exposes power—It gets us closer to winning the world our communities deserve.

HUD issued a memo, removing critical disaster resilience, community participation, federal oversight, fair housing, & civil rights requirements & standards from nearly $12 billion in disaster recovery funding approved by Congress for disasters occurring in 2023 & 2024. bit.ly/4bKAiJv

The CDFI Fund Is Under Fire. What Does That Mean for Community Development? Trump’s executive order won’t kill the CDFI Fund. But it could slow down one of our most powerful tools for community-based banking.

"Last week’s executive order has renewed concerns across the industry that mass terminations—illegal or otherwise—of CDFI Fund staff or contracts w/ application readers would mean losing cumulative decades of experience administering this intricate application process."
nextcity.org/urbanist-new...

📢 This City Cut Homelessness by 30%—Here’s How They Did It

📌 Listen or Watch Now:
🎥 YouTube ▶️ bit.ly/4bHgCEu
🍏 Apple 🎧 apple.co/4cckQ86
🎵 Spotify 🔊 spoti.fi/3XyM98c

Secretary Scott Turner says that HUD will now begin issuing formal award notices to communities awaiting some $3.6 in grants for homeless shelters — with some added boilerplate about how funds can't be used for DEI

Shelters have been waiting for word for weeks:
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

DOGE’s Cuts to HUD Will Make It Harder to Afford Housing, Exit Homelessness Department of Housing and Urban Development funds have been disrupted, sometimes through means that are likely illegal.

Department of Housing and Urban Development funds have been disrupted, sometimes through means that are likely illegal.

Policy Brief: Policymakers Can Solve Homelessness by Scaling Up Rental Assistance and Supportive Services | Center on Budget and Policy Priorities Housing is a basic human need, but stable housing is out of reach or hard to keep for far too many people. This is a policy choice, not an economic inevitability. Evidence shows that we can solve...

NEW policy brief from @centeronbudget.bsky.social: "We can solve homelessness if we address its primary driver: the gap between incomes and rent."
www.cbpp.org/research/hou...