10 foundations and philanthropic funders nonprofits should research for affordable housing, homelessness, eviction prevention and housing stability

Housing is more than having a roof over someone’s head.

For a family living paycheck to paycheck, one missed paycheck can become an eviction notice. For an older adult, an inaccessible home can become a health and safety problem. For a young person experiencing homelessness, stable housing can be the difference between staying in school and dropping out.

And for communities facing rapidly rising housing costs, the challenge is not simply helping people find apartments.

It is creating, preserving and protecting affordable homes.

That has created a broad philanthropic funding landscape around housing.

Foundations and corporate philanthropies are investing in:

• Affordable housing

• Homelessness prevention

• Eviction prevention

• Tenant services

• Supportive housing

• Housing preservation

• Homeownership

• Housing development

• Community development

• Housing-related legal services

• Resident services

• Housing and health

• Housing and economic mobility

For nonprofits, that means there are more prospects than simply searching for foundations with the words “affordable housing” in their mission statement.

Here are 10 housing funders and philanthropic programs worth researching.

1. TD Charitable Foundation

The TD Charitable Foundation is one of the most established corporate philanthropic funders in the affordable-housing space.

Its annual Housing for Everyone program has supported more than 630 affordable-housing projects with more than $63 million since 2005. The program operates in TD’s U.S. footprint from Maine to Florida.

The 2026 competition focused specifically on eviction prevention through early intervention for low- to moderate-income communities.

The 2026 program awarded 40 grants of $250,000 each, totaling $10 million. The recipients included organizations providing legal assistance, counseling, financial support and other services designed to help renters remain housed.

This is an important lesson for housing nonprofits:

A funder may support housing without funding the construction of housing.

Best fit: Eviction prevention, housing stability, affordable housing, tenant services and interventions that help people remain housed.

Fundraising strategy: Don’t simply say that rents are rising. Show exactly what intervention prevents housing loss and how many households it can stabilize.

TD also operates regional grant programs and community sponsorships, making the broader TD funding portfolio worth researching even when the annual Housing for Everyone competition is closed.

2. Wells Fargo Foundation

The Wells Fargo Foundation has housing access and affordability as one of its three primary philanthropic priorities, alongside financial opportunity and small-business growth.

Its housing work focuses on solutions that help people access quality, affordable places to live, recognizing housing as a foundation for wellness, dignity and economic opportunity.

Wells Fargo’s current grantmaking also emphasizes measurable outcomes, innovative and scalable solutions, and community impact. Its general grant process is currently invitation-based, so nonprofits should not treat the foundation as a conventional open-application prospect.

Best fit: Affordable housing, housing access, housing stability and programs connecting housing to economic opportunity.

Fundraising strategy: Research whether your organization has a relationship or local connection that could lead to an invitation. Don’t simply submit an unsolicited proposal.

3. Wells Fargo Housing Affordability Breakthrough Challenge

This deserves separate attention because it is different from ordinary corporate grantmaking.

In 2026, Wells Fargo launched the third cycle of its Housing Affordability Breakthrough Challenge, managed by Enterprise Community Partners.

The competition is designed to identify innovative and scalable housing solutions across the United States.

The 2026 competition offers five $2 million grants, totaling $10 million, along with technical assistance, mentorship and peer learning.

The three focus areas are:

Design & Construction

Finance

Service & Delivery Programs

Applicants must demonstrate existing results, an evidence base and a credible strategy for scaling the innovation.

Best fit: Innovative housing models, affordable construction, financing solutions, resident services and scalable housing interventions.

Fundraising strategy: This is not the place for a proposal that simply says, “We need funding to continue our housing program.” The question is:

What are you doing differently—and can it work at a much larger scale?

4. JPMorganChase

JPMorganChase has made housing a significant area of philanthropic investment.

In November 2025, the firm announced more than $40 million in new philanthropic funding focused on increasing housing supply, including more than $20 million in grants and $20 million in flexible impact-focused loans. The investments were intended to support solutions involving construction, financing, rental preservation and home-improvement loans for low- and moderate-income families.

The announcement also noted that JPMorganChase had extended more than $5 billion in debt and equity for affordable housing during the first three quarters of 2025.

That illustrates something important:

Housing philanthropy can intersect with financial innovation.

A nonprofit should therefore investigate not only grants but also potential partnerships involving:

• Affordable housing finance

• Preservation

• Homeownership

• Community development

• Housing supply

• Resident financial stability

Best fit: Affordable housing supply, preservation, housing finance, homeownership and innovative housing solutions.

Fundraising strategy: If your organization works at the intersection of housing and economic mobility, make that connection explicit.

5. Enterprise Community Partners

Enterprise Community Partners is not simply a traditional foundation.

It is a major national housing organization that works with nonprofits, governments, financial institutions and communities to expand affordable housing and economic opportunity.

Its funding and partnership opportunities can include grants, technical assistance, training, capital and competitive initiatives.

Enterprise’s 2026 program announcements, for example, include opportunities involving rural rental preservation, aging residents in affordable housing and other housing-related initiatives.

Enterprise is particularly important because it can serve as both a funding prospect and a gateway into the broader affordable-housing ecosystem.

Best fit: Affordable housing organizations, housing preservation, rural housing, resident services, community development and housing innovation.

Fundraising strategy: Don’t look only for a check. Investigate technical assistance, partnerships, training and opportunities to become part of a larger housing initiative.

6. GMA Foundations — Housing Solutions Fund

For Massachusetts housing nonprofits, the GMA Foundations Housing Solutions Fund is a particularly relevant regional prospect.

Its 2026 request for proposals supported specific housing-related programs operated by eligible 501(c)(3) organizations in Greater Boston and selected Gateway Cities including Brockton, Chelsea, Lawrence, Lowell and Lynn.

The 2026 guidelines specifically excluded capital projects, emergency shelter operations and homeownership programs and limited eligibility to organizations with annual operating budgets of $10 million or less.

That illustrates why reading the actual guidelines matters.

A nonprofit might see “housing” and assume it qualifies—only to discover that its particular housing program is excluded.

Best fit: Eligible community-based housing programs in the fund’s geographic footprint.

Fundraising strategy: Research the specific program rather than assuming every housing activity qualifies.

7. Local Community Foundations

One of the most overlooked sources of housing funding is the community foundation.

Community foundations can be especially valuable because they understand local housing conditions and may fund programs that are too geographically specific for national funders.

Search for:

[Your city] community foundation

[Your county] housing grants

[Your region] affordable housing foundation

[Your state] housing philanthropy

housing stability community foundation

homelessness prevention grants

The key is to look beyond national funders.

A local foundation may understand your housing market better than a national organization—and may be more interested in supporting a community-based solution.

Best fit: Housing stability, homelessness prevention, tenant services, community development and locally targeted programs.

Fundraising strategy: Use local data. Explain the housing problem in the community the foundation exists to serve.

8. Family Foundations With Housing Portfolios

Family foundations can be excellent housing prospects—but they require more research.

Unlike a major corporate foundation, a family foundation may not have a sophisticated public grant portal.

Research its:

Form 990-PF

Recent grants

Trustees

Geography

Grant sizes

Previous housing recipients

The IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search provides access to tax-exempt organization information and Form 990-series filings, including private foundation 990-PFs.

Look for evidence that the foundation has actually funded:

Housing

Homelessness

Community development

Poverty reduction

Legal services

Neighborhood revitalization

Economic mobility

Then compare those grants with your own program.

Best fit: Smaller community housing organizations, homelessness programs, tenant services and locally focused housing initiatives.

Fundraising strategy: Don’t rely on a foundation’s broad mission statement. Study several years of actual grants.

9. Foundations Funding Housing Through Health

Housing nonprofits should also look outside the traditional housing sector.

Healthcare foundations increasingly recognize that housing affects health.

Potential areas include:

Housing instability

Homelessness

Healthy housing

Housing for older adults

Supportive housing

Housing and behavioral health

Housing and food security

Social determinants of health

This creates opportunities for housing nonprofits to approach health funders with a different but legitimate argument:

Stable housing is a health intervention.

A housing organization that provides supportive services, health navigation or housing stabilization may be particularly well positioned for these opportunities.

Best fit: Supportive housing, housing stabilization, vulnerable populations and programs connecting housing with measurable health outcomes.

Fundraising strategy: If possible, partner with a healthcare provider and measure outcomes beyond “people housed.”

10. Foundations Funding Economic Mobility

Housing is increasingly being connected to economic mobility.

That opens another funding category.

Consider the connection:

Stable housing

↓

Less disruption

↓

Better employment stability

↓

Greater financial security

↓

Improved family economic mobility

A housing nonprofit might therefore qualify for funders interested in:

• Financial stability

• Workforce development

• Poverty reduction

• Economic mobility

• Family stability

• Asset building

• Community development

This is particularly relevant to families who are technically housed but remain one financial emergency away from losing their homes.

Best fit: Housing stability combined with employment, financial coaching, benefits access or economic mobility.

Fundraising strategy: Demonstrate how housing stability creates downstream economic benefits.

What Housing Funders Are Really Looking For

A housing proposal becomes much stronger when it answers more than:

“How many people do you house?”

Funders increasingly want to understand:

Who is at risk?

Is the population:

low-income renters?

families facing eviction?

people experiencing homelessness?

older adults?

people with disabilities?

young adults?

veterans?

immigrant families?

What is the barrier?

Is it:

rent?

legal problems?

lack of affordable units?

poor housing conditions?

lack of transportation?

credit?

income instability?

health issues?

What is your intervention?

Are you providing:

rental assistance?

legal services?

case management?

supportive housing?

housing development?

home repair?

tenant organizing?

financial counseling?

eviction prevention?

What happens because of your intervention?

This is the most important question.

How many households remain housed?

How many evictions are prevented?

How many units are preserved?

How many people move from homelessness into permanent housing?

How long do households remain housed?

What happens to employment, education or health?

Don’t Sell “Housing.” Sell the Solution.

Consider these two proposals.

Weak:

“Our organization needs $50,000 to provide housing services to low-income families.”

Stronger:

“Our eviction-prevention program will help 150 low-income renter households resolve legal, financial and administrative barriers before they become homelessness crises, allowing families to remain safely housed in their communities.”

The second proposal gives the funder:

A population

A problem

An intervention

An outcome

A reason to invest

Housing Funding Is Not Just About Construction

This is one of the most important lessons for nonprofits.

Housing philanthropy can support:

Construction

Preservation

Rental assistance

Eviction prevention

Legal assistance

Tenant services

Resident services

Homeownership

Home repairs

Financial counseling

Supportive housing

Homelessness prevention

Housing innovation

Community development

Research

Technical assistance

Capacity building

That means a nonprofit should not assume:

“We’re not a housing developer, so housing foundations aren’t for us.”

You may be exactly the kind of organization a housing-stability funder wants to support.

How to Research a Housing Foundation

Before applying, build a one-page funder profile.

Foundation

Name:

Website:

Housing priority

Affordable housing / homelessness / eviction / homeownership / preservation / other

Geography

Where does it fund?

Population

Who does it prioritize?

Recent grants

List 5–10 comparable organizations.

Grant size

Typical amount:

Application

Open / LOI / invitation

Program fit

Why does your organization match?

Outcome fit

What measurable result can you demonstrate?

Relationship

Who knows the funder?

Timing

Next deadline:

Recommendation

Pursue / Cultivate / Monitor / Decline

This prevents the development team from spending weeks preparing proposals for poor prospects.

Build a Housing Funding Portfolio

A nonprofit should not depend on one housing funder.

Build several categories:

Corporate housing funders

TD

Wells Fargo

JPMorganChase

National housing organizations

Enterprise Community Partners

Community foundations

Local and regional funders

Family foundations

Housing and poverty-focused family philanthropies

Health funders

Housing-as-health opportunities

Government

HUD and state/local housing programs

HUD’s FY2026 Continuum of Care competition, for example, includes more than $4 billion in competitive funding for supportive services and housing programs addressing homelessness.

The result is a diversified housing funding strategy rather than dependence on one grant cycle.

The Housing Grant Calendar

Add each prospect to your organization’s annual grant calendar.

Track:

This turns housing grant research into an actual fundraising pipeline.

The Bigger Opportunity

Housing nonprofits should stop thinking of their funding universe as one category.

A housing organization can legitimately sit at the intersection of:

Housing + health

Housing + economic mobility

Housing + food security

Housing + education

Housing + aging

Housing + disability

Housing + workforce development

Housing + racial equity

Housing + community development

Housing + homelessness prevention

Those intersections can reveal funders that would never appear in a simple search for “affordable housing grants.”

The Bottom Line

The best housing grant opportunity isn’t necessarily the foundation with the largest housing budget.

It is the funder whose:

geography

population

housing priority

grant size

application process

previous giving

desired outcomes

align with your organization.

Current funding examples demonstrate how different the housing landscape can be: TD’s 2026 Housing for Everyone program concentrated on eviction prevention; Wells Fargo emphasizes housing access and affordability; JPMorganChase has invested in housing supply and preservation; and the Wells Fargo Housing Affordability Breakthrough Challenge is looking for innovative, scalable solutions.

That means the smartest question isn’t:

“Who funds housing?”

It is:

“Which funder is trying to solve the same housing problem we are—and what evidence can we show that our solution works?”

That’s where housing fundraising becomes strategic.

Ready to Build a Housing Funding Pipeline?

Start with your specific program—eviction prevention, homelessness, affordable housing, tenant services, homeownership, supportive housing or housing preservation—and build a prospect list around the funders already investing in that solution.

Don’t chase every housing grant. Find the funders whose housing priorities match the problem your nonprofit is uniquely positioned to solve.