Oak Foundation - Housing and Homelessness Grant Program

The Oak Foundation's Housing and Homelessness Grant Program aims to reduce homelessness and improve housing conditions by supporting organizations that empower renters and advocate for equitable housing. The program focuses on enhancing renter rights, increasing the availability of affordable homes, and preventing homelessness through community-driven strategies. By addressing structural issues such as poverty and discrimination, the foundation seeks to create lasting change in housing accessibility for marginalized populations in both the US and UK.

Vission
Oak’s Housing and Homelessness Programme believes in a society where more people live in decent homes and fewer people experience homelessness and housing insecurity.
This means challenging systems that cause homelessness and enabling strategies that create more housing opportunities for everyone. Our grant-making seeks out organisations that are developing ambitious strategies, shaped by people with lived experience and rooted in robust evidence.
Our challenge
Our grant-making strategy sits within the wider context of the structural causes of homelessness and housing insecurity, which include poverty, inequality, and discrimination. Housing strategies could increase housing opportunity for everyone, yet homelessness persists and the organisations addressing these issues, with people experiencing the problem, need more resources to achieve long lasting change.
Renter Rights
We support organizations that:
help renters on low incomes to access decent homes at genuinely affordable rent levels;promote fairer tenancy agreements and end unfair evictions; anduncover and challenge discrimination which excludes people from accessing affordable and safe homes.
Outcome: All renters have strong housing rights that are protected. This includes social and public housing tenants, as well as tenants in the private rented sector
Supply and access to genuinely affordable and decent homes
campaign to improve supply of homes that are affordable for people with the lowest income and/or facing the most discrimination;support different models of community ownership that benefit people with the greatest housing need; andempower communities to advocate for more homes that meet housing need.
Outcome: Increased supply of new and existing genuinely affordable and decent homes available to people most discriminated against by housing policy.
Reduction and prevention of homelessness
empower and support people with complex needs through services that break the cycle of homelessness;develop stronger advocacy and campaigning to prevent all forms of homelessness; andimprove equitable access to supported housing and suitable longer-term housing options.
Outcome: Homelessness dramatically reduced and more suitable housing available for people with the greatest need.
Priority objectives
We fund in the US and the UK. Most of our geographic grants in the US are made to organisations in New York, Boston, and Philadelphia. In the UK, we fund organisations in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Bristol, Birmingham, London, and the Midlands. In addition, we fund organisations that work nationally in the US and the UK.

Eligibility

Projects which have national impact in the US and the UK are also funded.

Ineligibility

We generally fund no more than 50 per cent of the costs of any project or 20 per cent of organisational/programme budget.We do not provide support to individuals, and do not provide funding for scholarships or tuition assistance for undergraduate or postgraduate studies. We also do not fund religious organisations for religious purposes or election campaigns.Except in special circumstances or in Zimbabwe, we generally do not provide programme grants under USD 25,000.

Application Details

believes in a society where more people live Our challenge
in decent homes and fewer people experience Our grant-making strategy sits within the
homelessness and housing insecurity. wider context of the structural causes of
homelessness and housing insecurity,
This means challenging systems that cause which include poverty, inequality, and
homelessness and enabling strategies that discrimination. Housing strategies could
create more housing opportunities for everyone. increase housing opportunity for everyone,
communities and organisations that work most organisations addressing these issues,
closely with people, strengthening their collective with people experiencing the problem,
capacity to achieve change. Our grant-making need more resources to achieve long
seeks out organisations that are developing lasting change.
ambitious strategies, shaped by people with
lived experience and rooted in robust evidence.

Housing issues intersect with a range of social
Principles issues, including criminal justice, mental health,
underpinning discrimination and hate crime, migration and
immigration, unemployment, and low wages.
organisations where housing issues form a part
to strengthening the voices of people with lived a sole focus on housing and homelessness.
experience and supporting solutions that are
anti-discrimination. Given that the gap between towards change at a systemic level.
income and homes that are affordable is growing, to systems change prioritises work that ensures
access to essential resources and who are most people furthest from housing opportunity,
excluded from housing opportunity. meeting the immediate needs of people in ways
that prevent further homelessness and reduce
homelessness and housing problems unfairly term solutions and change. By working in this
community. This includes Black and Minoritised identify strategies for change to reflect the
ethnic communities, disabled people, LGBTQI experiences and aspirations of people with
communities, and older and younger people. the greatest housing need.
working with people who have lived experience
of homelessness and housing problems.

Theme We support organisations that: Outcome
Renter rights • help renters on low incomes All renters have strong housing rights
to access decent homes at genuinely that are protected. This includes social
affordable rent levels; and public housing tenants, as well as
tenants in the private rented sector.
which excludes people from accessing
affordable and safe homes.
Supply and access • campaign to improve supply of homes Increased supply of new and existing
to genuinely that are affordable for people with the genuinely affordable and decent homes
affordable and lowest income and/or facing the most available to people most discriminated
decent homes discrimination; against by housing policy.
• empower communities to advocate for
more homes that meet housing need.
Reduction and • empower and support people with Homelessness dramatically reduced
prevention of complex needs through services that and more suitable housing available
homelessness break the cycle of homelessness; for people with the greatest need.
housing and suitable longer-term
housing options.

Approaches What does this mean Why is it important
that includes smaller organisations.
organisations and have a fixed definition of a small together, committed to connecting
with experience of the UK context in which small is to policy and practice, is key to
homelessness and often referred to as an organisation reducing homelessness and
housing insecurity, with an operating cost of under creating more homes.
and advocate for GBP 1 million.
substantial changes This means building up the
in policy and practice.
supporting actions that originate currently have the least resources,
and operate at community level and including:

• build on lived experiences. We want - small and grassroots
• to encourage grassroots organisations organisations;
• to engage in coalition work and - organisations led by people
• movement building. with lived experience; and
• organisations led by people

We often work with larger
from Minoritised backgrounds.
to help us direct our funding
to grassroots action effectively.
Tackling racism We fund organisations that address People from communities that
and other forms the relationships between housing experience discrimination are
of discrimination in and racism and other forms of disproportionately impacted
housing to ensure discrimination. by homelessness. Supporting
equity and justice are organisations that challenge
achieved for those We fund a range of organisations housing injustice alongside other
most disadvantaged. but have a particular interest in social injustices will strengthen
those steeped in lived experience the voices and experiences of
and led by leaders from Black and those that most need to be heard.
Minoritised communities.

Approaches What does this mean Why is it important
Ensuring access We fund not-for-profit organisations Lack of access to knowledge,
to information, that support campaigning, activism, data, and information can exclude
knowledge, data, and policy change by equipping and disempower grassroots
and legal systems communities and activists with organisations and communities.
for stronger advocacy, knowledge and expertise. We
campaigning, and define this widely, but it can include: By funding initiatives to make
grassroots action - expertise on legal challenges; knowledge and data more accessible

• training for activism; and usable for grassroots activists,
• training to better understand organisations and communities will

formal decision-making processes be better equipped to use their
related to housing; power more effectively.

• support with narrative change,

telling;

• strategies to connect tenants

to broader movements; and

• access to and analysis of statistics

and data that are not readily
available to the sector.
Given the multiple layers and complex factors As we build our portfolio of grants, we remain
that have led to a housing crisis, our grant- focused on long-term systemic change, which
making strategy is broad so we can respond means funding a range of strategies to ensure
to the solutions identified by organisations positive outcomes for people who are
and the people they support. This can include: disadvantaged and discriminated against.
empowering people to break cycles of We are open to hearing new ideas from the
casework; securing access to homes long-term; about achieving change.
campaigning and advocating for policy approaches to help us identify projects and
change to address immediate problems; organisations to fund.
testing innovations and new approaches; events, seminars, and keep ourselves informed
building the capacity and power of people through social media and by reading reports.
addition, we fund organisations that work
nationally in the US and the UK.

with capacity building and will actively encourage
our grantee partners partners to discuss their organisational
support with issues such as governance,
Our grants are usually multi-year and long-term.
When we formally invite an organisation to apply
evaluation, safeguarding, and communication.
partnership with organisations to develop the
needs into the grant application.
application.
our partners and the communities that they
work with.

partners. We expect our learning questions
funding model getting in the way of smaller, for funding. Please only submit an enquiry
grassroots, and community-led organisations? once you have considered our strategy.
Cecil Sagoe
a tangible change?
Katy Castle

• Does looking at homelessness through the Louise Montgomery

• How is our learning approach helping us to
develop a pipeline of organisations to fund?