The Partnership to End Homelessness (The Partnership) is pleased to announce $375,000 in grants awarded to eight organizations and coalitions leading systems change efforts in DC through the Waldon Adams Housing Justice Fund. Selected nonprofits receive up to $50,000 in funding to support work to end homelessness and increase the supply of deeply affordable housing.
Named after a fearless advocate for those experiencing chronic homelessness in DC, the Waldon Adams Housing Justice grants are designed to invest in organizations making the greatest impact towards ending homelessness in DC.
Since the Partnership awarded our first grants to advance housing justice, together with tenants and people with lived experience, our community partners led efforts to secure:
Over 4,o00 Permanent Supportive Housing vouchers to end homelessness for 3,106 individuals and 1,217 families;
$794 million for the Housing Production Trust Fund to create affordable housing;
$155 million to repair and preserve public housing;
$129 million for emergency rental assistance to prevent evictions; and
More just and equitable housing policies.
This fourth round of grant funding will support work to advance housing justice using multiple strategies, including public will building, narrative change, policy advocacy, and budget advocacy.
Learn more about previous Waldon Adams Housing Justice Grantees
Here’s what some of our grantees have shared about their work and their plans for the coming year:
Fair Budget Coalition
Partnership funding is helping us create and advocate for our FY25 budget priorities to increase safe, affordable housing for DC’s most marginalized residents. We are excited about new strategies we are implementing to build the power and voice of impacted community members in our work. We are creating more space for people with lived experience of homelessness and housing insecurity to draft budget recommendations, voice their concerns, and tell their stories. Currently, there is an unprecedented number of constituents leading and engaging in our issue groups, including the revenue and public deals issue group and the housing security issue group. This ensures that those who are closest to the challenges are leading us on what solutions need to be enacted.
ONE DC
Our goal for Homes for All DC is systems change through political education and leadership development. We proactively work with tenant associations to build their capacity to liberate their properties for collective ownership by residents, while simultaneously raising awareness and building tenant power. Partnership funding will allow us to continue to build and organize a united front of 10,000 to 15,000 renter households to push for the level of political change we need to secure control of housing for a significant portion of Washingtonians. We are disrupting paternalistic narratives and demonstrating that the very people most often displaced by gentrification, racist housing policies, and racialized capitalism are the same people who are effectively organizing their neighbors, asserting their rights, and collectively owning their buildings.
These grants were made possible thanks to generous partners and donors to the Partnership’s Grantmaking Fund.
2024 waldon adams HOUSING JUSTICE GRANTEES
DC Jobs with Justice
DC Fiscal Policy Institute
Empower DC
Fair Budget Coalition
Miriam's Kitchen
ONE DC: Organizing Neighborhood Equity
People for Fairness Coalition
The Washington Legal Clinic For The Homeless Inc.