By Megan Sayles,
AFRO Business Writer,
msayles@afro.com
Applications for the TD Charitable Foundation Housing for Everyone grant competition close on Feb. 14.
This year’s theme for the program is the preservation of affordable rental housing, with a focus on supporting nonprofit organizations that provide rental assistance, renovate affordable housing projects and address long-term resident sustainability.
In total, the Housing for Everyone grant competition will deploy $7 million to 37 organizations spanning the East Coast, including Maryland and Washington, D.C.
Grant winners will be announced in May.
“Research shows that housing is one of the biggest threats to the economic stability of Americans,” said Paige Carlson-Heim, director of the TD Charitable Foundation and office of charitable giving. “Housing affordability is a problem that has significantly worsened since the pandemic, and exponentially so in Black and Hispanic communities.”
According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, 20.3 percent of renters are African American, while only 8.2 percent are homeowners. Comparatively, nearly 75 percent of White household heads are homeowners, while just over 51 percent rent.
Rent prices have also increased in recent years. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, from 2017 to 2022, rent costs in U.S. cities climbed 18.5 percent on average.
Carlson-Heim said housing is one, if not, the biggest threat to Americans’ economic stability.
Since 2005, the Housing for Everyone grant competition has given more than $42 million to housing nonprofits and aided more than 500 affordable housing initiatives.
“At the TD Charitable Foundation, we firmly believe that housing is a basic need and that a path to homeownership is central to economic inclusion. We’re standing behind the hundreds of community organizations working to alleviate this housing crisis— whether they are supporting families who are renting or those working to save to purchase a home with an eye toward building wealth for their future,” said Carlson-Heim. “We’re here to support their critical programs as well as to build their capacity to serve even more people. At the TD Charitable Foundation, we believe that investing in these organizations and in their work is a clear investment in our future.”
Megan Sayles is a Report for America corps member.
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