Public Education & Organizing
Our members make us powerful.
We build awareness and activate change by sharing information and real-life stories with policymakers, nonprofit service providers, and the media. We keep our members and allies informed about the latest developments in housing policy, organize issue-specific working groups, meet with legislators, take the pulse of communities during our outreach caravan, and host an annual Housing Matters Conference where advocates and practitioners share their knowledge and expertise.
Our Priority Issues
Housing Action Illinois works to educate and organize around a broad range of issues aligned with our core mission of creating an Illinois where everyone has a good, affordable place to call home. Our primary issues include:
Louder Together: Multi-Sector Partnerships
To truly change our affordable housing ecosystem for the better, we need to bring together not just housing advocates but also people, organizations, and interest groups from beyond the housing field. This is why Housing Action Illinois has joined the national Opportunity Starts at Home campaign, a project of our allies at the National Low Income Housing Coalition, and why we are working with advocates in pediatric health care, refugee resettlement, and the disability rights sector to raise up affordable housing as an issue that matters to all of us.
Annual Conference
During our annual conference, we build the expertise, experience, and capacity to make our communities better.
Caravan
We visit with members, host regional gatherings, and take the pulse of housing issues in rural, suburban, and urban Illinois.
Publications
Housing Action Illinois publishes research and analysis on issues related to affordable housing, as well as educational materials.
Latest News
Our Chicago: Community Summit to Reflect on 50 Years of the Fair Housing Act
Leah Demarest and Rachel Schwartz are AmeriCorps VISTAs at John Marshall Law School Fair Housing Legal Clinic and Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights, respectively. April 2018 marks 50 years since the passage of the federal Fair Housing Act. In...
Building the Next Generation of Change Agents
From recent college graduates to retirees, social workers to construction workers, the members of Housing Action Illinois' diverse AmeriCorps VISTA Network are united under one goal: to end poverty by expanding access to affordable housing. “While the...
Congress Should Consider the Gap in Affordable Rental Homes for the Poorest Households as They Finalize This Year’s Federal Budget
The Gap: A Shortage of Affordable Homes, a new report released today by the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) and Housing Action Illinois, finds a severe shortage of affordable rental homes for the extremely low-income (ELI) renter households across the...