In April 2024, Priscilla Chan sat on a stage through the five-year anniversary celebration for a housing initiative that she and husband Mark Zuckerberg’s philanthropy had seeded with a $50 million dedication. She defined their mission: “To improve housing affordability for folks across the socioeconomic spectrum, but especially for those who can least afford it, and to promote racial equity and economic inclusion.”
A 12 months later, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative has made a pointy reversal on its dedication to housing. CZI is quietly ending funding for plenty of California housing organizations, telling lots of the advocacy teams for housing and homelessness, some that it has supported for years, that it’s going to not renew their grants going ahead.
“It’s a blow to the housing justice movement across California,” mentioned Edie Irons, spokesperson for All House, a nonprofit advocate for options to homelessness. “It’s touching many if not all of the most effective housing advocacy organizations across the state.”
Chan and Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta and one of many richest males on the earth, have poured a part of their $198 billion fortune into CZI, which as of 2023, had belongings value $6.3 billion. Since 2018, the inspiration has put practically $200 million towards causes that construct housing or advocate for options to California’s housing affordability disaster. They’ve additionally contributed tens of millions of {dollars} to housing-related poll measures, together with a 2018 statewide bond measure for reasonably priced housing, and a gross sales tax enhance to fund homelessness companies in Alameda County.
CZI declined to be interviewed for this story. In a press release, it mentioned: “Over the past decade, CZI has supported transformative housing solutions in California, directly contributing to the production and preservation of more than 40,000 homes and helping millions of renters find stability through financing, technical assistance, and community-driven policy changes. As we deepen our focus on biomedical research, we will wind down our statewide housing initiative by the end of 2026. Moving forward, our housing work will focus locally, with continued investments in the Bay Area.”
A number of folks acquainted with CZI’s decision-making, who requested to not be recognized for worry of retaliation, mentioned the pullback can also be associated to its name to finish funding for packages supporting range, fairness and inclusion, also called DEI. Lots of the housing organizations CZI has supported in earlier years embrace commitments to social fairness of their mission statements.
Leaders of impacted organizations say they really feel betrayed that CZI, which has traditionally supported progressive social causes, has been so fast to vary its tune because the Trump administration takes intention at DEI. President Donald Trump has signed govt orders to halt spending on range initiatives by way of the federal authorities, together with for federal contractors and grant recipients.
“Pulling this funding sends a terrible message that this work is disposable,” one housing group’s employees member mentioned.
One grantee was initially informed they may survive the scrutiny as a result of they didn’t focus as a lot on DEI of their work as different organizations. Later, they have been informed CZI attorneys reviewing their web site discovered references to DEI, and that they’d not obtain future funding.
A number of workers on CZI’s neighborhood workforce, together with about half the housing workforce, have been laid off in latest months, folks acquainted with the group mentioned.
Many grantees fear that CZI’s pullback from the housing house may set off different company foundations to comply with. Some are even weighing whether or not to do away with any mentions of DEI solely to appease company donors.
“We’re not going to stop DEI work, we’re just not going to talk about it as much publicly,” mentioned the chief of a housing group who didn’t need their identify used for worry of risking extra funding. “None of us wants to be cowardly, but we’re running businesses that support people’s livelihoods. Are we going to take a stand that risks our staff members’ jobs?”
Some native nonprofits are closely reliant on CZI. In contrast to different charities, CZI made many grants for to help organizations’ basic working budgets, versus project-specific grants.
The East Bay Housing Organizations, an Oakland-based advocacy group for reasonably priced housing, has counted CZI as its second-largest donor. Lindsay Haddix, EBHO’s govt director, mentioned CZI informed her lately that it will honor its present funding by way of February 2026, however funding wouldn’t be renewed going ahead.
“Their funding has been critical to our work,” Haddix mentioned. “I am working as diligently as possible with our board and with our members to try to find a solution so that our operations will not be impacted.”
The professional-housing group YIMBY Motion mentioned that CZI has helped to fund its work holding cities to their housing components, that are plans the state requires native governments to create to plan for brand spanking new housing progress.
“The Housing Element offers one of the best opportunities we’ve had in decades to get the housing California needs, in the communities where it’s needed most. We were thrilled that CZI saw the incredible potential of the Housing Element and joined us as an investor,” mentioned Managing Director Gillian Pressman. “We are disappointed that they decided not to renew funding.”
Some of the-celebrated packages amongst grantees to be minimize was CZI’s “Housing Narrative Partner Program,” which introduced collectively tenant advocates, market-rate housing advocates and homelessness-focused group to unify behind a message that might construct public help for enhancing housing affordability.
“There’s not many funders for narrative work — it’s incredibly important,” mentioned Irons of All House. “They had a really stellar team.”
Up to now, evidently some extra research-focused organizations have been spared from cuts, together with the Terner Middle for Housing, a spokesperson there mentioned.
Past simply housing packages, CZI has additionally minimize some education schemes. Final week, it introduced it’s going to shut an East Palo Alto faculty it based in 2016 to offer low-income youngsters a free, private-school training.
Whereas CZI pulls again, others charities say they’re stepping as much as fill the hole in funding for social justice-oriented causes. Final week, the San Francisco Basis, which manages the Partnership for the Bay Future initiative, mentioned it’s going to spend an extra $15 million from its endowment to help Bay Space organizations.
“The decision of any funder in California, especially a major funder, to suddenly halt its support for housing advocacy – just as we face unprecedented federal funding cuts – is devastating,” wrote Chief Affect Officer Judith Bell in a press release. “The San Francisco Foundation – along with many of our peer funders – is holding stronger than ever to our commitment to inclusivity, social justice and racial equity.”
Initially Printed: Could 1, 2025 at 6:06 PM PDT
