The grant will support Ability Housing’s Northeast Florida Villages Program
Ability Housing, a nonprofit developer of affordable rental housing, was recently awarded a $150,000 Housing for Everyone grant from the TD Charitable Foundation, the charitable giving arm of TD Bank, America’s Most Convenient Bank®.
Ability Housing is one of 33 organizations selected from more than 357 applicants to receive a Housing for Everyone grant as part of the TD Charitable Foundation’s annual grant program helping to provide affordable housing since 2005.
The grant will support the expansion of Ability Housing’s Northeast Florida Villages Program, which comprises 332 units of quality, affordable, supportive housing. The organization will also develop and implement new programs designed to empower residents to increase their earnings, financial assets and resilience — both from an economic and psychological perspective.
To support these goals, Ability Housing will contract with Lutheran Social Services (LSS) to bring residents access to the Steps 2 Success and Financial Opportunity Center. Ability Housing also plans to increase its case management capacity to aid eligible residents in applying for Social Security disability benefits, Medicaid/Medicare coverage and behavioral care with local federally qualified health centers.
The housing affordability crisis has worsened over the past two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and housing organizations have worked tirelessly to meet the increasing need for assistance from individuals and families. The growing need for assistance has strained affordable housing organizations and made it difficult to continue delivering critical resources and services.
Without resident services from affordable housing providers, like eviction assistance and housing search assistance, many individuals and families will struggle to find or risk losing a safe, affordable place to call home. Ability Housing aims to leverage its Housing for Everyone grant to fulfill residents’ short-term housing needs, as well as their long-term financial goals.
The TD Charitable Foundation awarded $5.8 million through the 16th annual Housing for Everyone grant competition to a total of 33 organizations across TD Bank’s Maine-to-Florida footprint and Michigan to help support affordable housing organizations provide critical resident services. Since 2005, the TD Charitable Foundation has given more than $42 million dollars to non-profit and charitable organizations through the Housing for Everyone grant competition and helped support over 500 affordable housing projects and initiatives.
