Mission, Values, & Vision

We are working to create an Illinois where everyone has a good, stable home.

For more than 35 years, our statewide coalition has led the movement to protect and expand the availability of quality, affordable housing in Illinois.

We bring together 160+ member organizations, united in our vision of expanding affordable housing and ending homelessness. Our members include housing counseling agencies, homeless service providers, developers of affordable housing, and policymakers. 

Our work has led to tens of thousands of new homes being built, hundreds of thousands of people going from housing insecurity or homelessness to having stable homes, and millions of renters gaining better protections. Working with our members and allies, we’ve created access and housing opportunities in every community throughout Illinois.

Today, we work to protect these accomplishments and build upon them.

We empower communities to thrive through three programs:

Capacity Building

We help housing counseling agencies and developers build their capacity and expand their resources. We are a HUD-approved Intermediary and manage an AmeriCorps network. Together, our impact is greater.

Education & Organizing

We build awareness, activate change, and shift narratives by sharing information and real-life stories with policymakers, nonprofit service providers, and the media.

Policy Advocacy

We mobilize and advocate for policies that help end homelessness, create affordable rental housing, and promote sustainable homeownership. Together, our voice is stronger.

Our Mission

To increase and preserve the supply of quality, affordable, accessible homes in Illinois for low-and moderate-income families and individuals.

Our Values

Housing is a human right. We believe in a society that promotes basic human needs such as decent and safe housing for all of its members. Public policy and government spending should ensure that the basic housing needs of all people are met. Housing Action Illinois is committed to work that focuses on advancing equitable community development and affirmatively furthering racial justice.

Our Vision

To create an environment where all Illinois residents, particularly people with the lowest incomes, have a voice in housing policy and community development. We seek to bring together community stakeholders such as residents, businesses, and government to work together to increase the supply and availability of affordable housing across the state.

 

Our Strategic Plan

During 2021 and 2022, Housing Action Illinois’ Board of Directors and staff undertook an in-depth strategic planning process facilitated by the National Alliance of Community Economic Development Associations (NACEDA). We emerged with three main takeaways:

  • First, that Housing Action’s mission remains as essential now as it was when the organization was established 35+ years ago;
  • Second, that our previous strategic priorities and mission, values, and vision continue to provide the direction to advance that mission in constantly changing environments; and
  • Finally, the need to articulate a general framework for the programs and initiatives that we undertake, with more specific internal annual work plans, so that our strategic plan would be a flexible and oft-referenced guide for our next four years and beyond. We affirmed and developed strategic priorities, pillars of work, and lenses that we apply throughout our programs.

We invite you to learn more by reading our strategic plan summary.