Housing Justice
THE NEED
Over the past year, the Bay Area has faced several compounding crises: the pandemic, increasingly devastating wildfires, and an economic crisis that disproportionately impacted our lowest-paid workers. These crises exacerbated widespread issues already plaguing the Bay Area housing market. Addressing housing and homelessness in the Bay Area has thus never been more essential than it is right now. Historical disparities reproduced in today’s housing system operate in tandem with the Bay Area’s immense racial wealth gap, with Black and Latinx residents half as likely to own homes and twice as likely to live in poverty. In short, fighting for housing stability and affordability requires putting equity front and center. Housing Justice is a social justice issue.
OUR WORK
As we work to dismantle the root causes of poverty in the Bay Area, which disproportionately impact Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color, UWBA is deepening our focus on improving access to stable, affordable housing and homelessness prevention resources.
We are doing so by
SparkPoint Centers increasing housing stability services and referrals along with continuing to deliver rent relief
SparkPoint
211 increasing housing information and referral services and leveraging regional data to address gaps and inform policy
211
Emergency Food & Shelter and the Emergency Assistance Network continuing support for basic needs, including housing
MEETING BASIC NEEDS
Designing new or expanded programs to address the racial wealth gap through foreclosure prevention, homeownership assistance, alternative housing ownership structures, and alternative wealth-building strategies
Supporting innovative solutions which create new stable housing or increase housing equity
Expanding our housing-related policy advocacy to increase public funding for housing, reform exclusionary land-use policies, open access to opportunity for communities of color, and center renters at risk of displacement
policy advocacy
Stay Updated on Our Housing Justice Work
Press Release
United Way Bay Area awards $750,000 in housing justice grants to 23 local nonprofits
UWBA is awarding grants totaling $750,000 to 23 Bay Area organizations as part of their Housing Justice Initiative grantmaking efforts.
Learn more about our Housing Justice Initiative grantmaking efforts
HOUSING JUSTICE: REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL (DUE MARCH 22, 2024)
United Way Bay Area Ambassadors Community-led Housing Grant
View RFP details