May 2, 2025
In April 2024, Priscilla Chan sat on a stage during the five-year anniversary celebration for a housing initiative that she and husband Mark Zuckerberg’s philanthropy had seeded with a $50 million commitment. She explained 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 year later, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative has made a sharp reversal on its commitment to housing. CZI is quietly ending funding for a number of California housing organizations, telling many of the advocacy groups for housing and homelessness, some that it has supported for years, that it will not renew their grants going forward.
“It’s a blow to the housing justice movement across California,” said Edie Irons, spokesperson for All Home, a nonprofit advocate for solutions to homelessness. “It’s touching many if not all of the most effective housing advocacy organizations across the state.”