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Housing and Homelessness
Programme

Supporting organisations to end homelessness and create housing opportunity

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    Housing and Homelessness Programme / Partner story

    Performance art for transformative housing

    PPR’s work to create affordable housing in Belfast, Northern Ireland, was recently highlighted in a beautiful opera called ‘Nobody/Somebody’. Click here to watch powerful scenes from the show and learn more. 

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    Housing and Homelessness Programme / Partner story

    Strengthening renters’ rights

    From New York City and New Orleans and Detroit to England and Scotland, renters’ rights are being strengthened, thanks to the great partners of the Housing and Homelessness Programme (Right to Counsel NYC Coalition, Housing Rights Initiative, Rente 

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    Housing and Homelessness Programme / Organisational strengthening and effectiveness / Partner story

    Looking after yourself in the business of looking after others

    Many of our grantee partners rely on leaders who work tirelessly to uplift their communities. Coaching provided by the Kairos Project aims to build the strengths and confidence of these leaders even more. Click below to learn more. 

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    Housing and Homelessness Programme / Partner story

    Campaigning for a society where no one is left behind

    Throughout the Covid-19 lockdown in 2021, Praxis, a not-for-profit organisation for migrants and refugees in the UK, continued to provide essential services. Click below to hear the story of one domestic abuse survivor in London. 

Overview

A safe and secure home is fundamental to a fairer society. This is about creating opportunities and building strong communities where everyone can thrive and live dignified lives.

Far too many people are under constant pressure of losing their homes. The structural causes of homelessness include economic inequality and unemployment, discrimination and racism, and the lack of affordable housing. All too often housing is seen as a commodity, and as such a significant power imbalance persists for people experiencing homelessness and with the greatest housing need.

Homelessness is preventable. Genuinely affordable and suitable housing must be within reach for everyone. This is why the Housing and Homelessness Programme supports projects that work to challenge and resolve the systemic causes of homelessness in the UK and the US. We fund not-for-profit organisations that are ambitious in their strategies to address structural inequalities – from testing new approaches to scaling up what works.

 
Housing and Homelessness Programme / Strategy paper

Programme strategy paper

Oak’s Housing and Homelessness Programme believes in building greater power within communities and organisations that work most closely with people, strengthening their collective capacity to achieve change. Our grant-making seeks out organisations that are developing ambitious strategies, shaped by people with lived experience and rooted in robust evidence.


Priority themes and outcomes

Housing issues intersect with a range of social issues, including criminal justice, mental health, violence against women and girls, racism, discrimination and hate crime, migration and immigration, unemployment, and low wages. To reflect this, we are interested in funding organisations where housing issues form a part of their strategies, as well as organisations with a sole focus on housing and homelessness.

We support organisations that:

  • help renters on low incomes
    to access decent homes at genuinely affordable rent levels;
  • promote fairer tenancy agreements and end unfair evictions; and
  • uncover and challenge discrimination which excludes people from accessing affordable and safe homes.

Outcomes
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.

 

We support organisations that:

  • 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; and
  • empower communities to advocate for more homes that meet housing need.

Outcomes
Increased supply of new and existing genuinely affordable and decent homes available to people most discriminated against by housing policy.

 

We support organisations that:

  • 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; and
  • improve equitable access to supported housing and suitable longer-term housing options.

Outcomes
Homelessness dramatically reduced and more suitable housing available for people with the greatest need.

 


Our programme grant-making in 2023

We made 45 grants totalling USD 36.96 million


Discover our partner stories

  •  
     
    Housing and Homelessness Programme / Partner story

    Performance art for transformative housing

    PPR’s work to create affordable housing in Belfast, Northern Ireland, was recently highlighted in a beautiful opera called ‘Nobody/Somebody’. Click here to watch powerful scenes from the show and lear…

  •  
     
    Housing and Homelessness Programme / Partner story

    Providing housing solutions in Northern Ireland

    Since its foundation in 1964, Housing Rights has helped thousands of people in Northern Ireland find safe and secure homes. Click below to learn more about how it has supported people like Clare find…

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    Housing and Homelessness Programme / Partner story / Video

    Shining a light on the poverty premium in insurance

    A new research report is out on the higher cost that people on low incomes pay for insurance by the UK-based Social Market Foundation with support from Fair By Design. It indicates that two thirds (66…

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    Housing and Homelessness Programme / Partner story

    Strengthening renters’ rights

    From New York City and New Orleans and Detroit to England and Scotland, renters’ rights are being strengthened, thanks to the great partners of the Housing and Homelessness Programme (Right to Couns…

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    Housing and Homelessness Programme / Webinar

    You’re invited! – Webinar on land reform in Scotland

    South of Scotland Community Housing (SOSCH) is holding a webinar to celebrate the growth and diversity of the community land ownership movement around the world. Click below to learn more about commun…

  •  
     
    Housing and Homelessness Programme / Organisational strengthening and effectiveness / Partner story

    Looking after yourself in the business of looking after others

    Many of our grantee partners rely on leaders who work tirelessly to uplift their communities. Coaching provided by the Kairos Project aims to build the strengths and confidence of these leaders even m…

Would you like to read more stories like this? Please visit our “Stories” page.