Funding Area
Housing
Having a safe, affordable place to live is a basic human right, allows people to focus on their education, career and health, and contributes to a thriving community.
Schreiber Philanthropy supports transitional and supportive housing and is committed to building better options for safe, accessible and affordable rental and home-ownership opportunities, especially for people who’ve been historically denied access, to create more vibrant and inclusive communities.
Our Strategy
Schreiber Philanthropy centers its housing strategy around five key priorities.
Our work is focused within the Chicagoland region, and will evolve based on the dynamic nature of the world we live in. With that in mind, we are committed to learning alongside our partners and being nimble in our strategy to achieve these goals.
Housing Priorities
Foster collaboration around a coordinated housing strategy, allowing philanthropic, government, and non-profit entities to work toward a common goal in order to maximize impact.
Create more housing choice by investing capital, supporting technical assistance, and policy change efforts designed to increase the supply of housing options across Chicago and Lake County.
Promote wealth and economic mobility through innovative home ownership strategies.
Advance housing stability and safeguard the rights of low- and moderate-income residents through advocacy and legal support for affirmative fair housing.
Leverage capital projects to create healthy and inclusive neighborhoods.
Grantee Spotlight
PADS Lake County
In recent years, the need for shelter in Lake County has grown rapidly. Rates of family homelessness have risen sharply, and more children are entering the homelessness system. PADS Lake County, a long-time Schreiber Philanthropy grantee, is responding to this increased need and expanding access to shelter and coordinated services across the county.
Schreiber Philanthropy recently supported PADS Lake County’s acquisition and renovation of a former Travelodge motel in Waukegan, which will become Lake County’s first permanent, fixed-site shelter designed specifically for families with children. The facility is slated to open in summer of 2026, and it will include 64 rooms with 224 beds, along with on-site case management, mental health services, employment support, and family programming.
This investment strengthens Lake County’s housing response infrastructure while helping ensure individuals and families have access to stable, supportive environments as they work toward permanent housing.
Grantee Spotlight
Thresholds
For individuals living with serious mental illness or substance use disorders, stable housing is often the first step toward recovery. Thresholds serves more than 12,500 adults and youth annually across more than 75 locations, delivering over 500,000 hours of care each year.
Thresholds also operates more than 1,500 supportive housing units, including housing for individuals experiencing homelessness. At a time when Chicago’s stock of Single Room Occupancy (SRO) buildings continues to decline, preserving affordable units remains critical. In 2025, Schreiber Philanthropy provided capital support for the acquisition and rehabilitation of the Glenn Apartments, preserving 100 low-barrier housing units in Uptown. Stable housing is foundational to sustained recovery, and this investment protects critical housing stock for highly vulnerable residents.
Grantee Spotlight
The Community Wealth Ecosystem Builders (The Community WEB)
As real estate investments have expanded beyond downtown Chicago, displacement and disinvestment, particularly impacting Black and Latine communities, have limited residents’ ability to influence and benefit from neighborhood change. In response, The Community Wealth Ecosystem Builders (The Community WEB) advances shared ownership models, such as housing cooperatives, community land trusts, and worker-owned enterprises, offering a pathway to build collective wealth through community control of assets.
While these efforts are growing, they remain fragmented and under-resourced. The Community WEB serves as a convener and technical assistance partner, functioning as a backbone organization to align stakeholders, strengthen collaboration, and support community ownership projects from early-stage ideas to implementation.
Schreiber Philanthropy’s early support is helping launch The Community WEB and advance housing stability, economic mobility, and community stewardship in neighborhoods historically excluded from traditional development. It also reflects Schreiber Philanthropy’s broader commitment to systems-change strategies that expand access to ownership, shift power, and create more inclusive and resilient local economies.
See previous grantee spotlights
Impact
While John and Kathy have been engaged in homelessness and housing work for years, they have made a decision to expand their focus on affordable housing in Chicagoland, especially for people who’ve been historically denied access, to create more vibrant and inclusive communities. These investments support partners working on homeownership models, supportive and transitional housing, and emergency shelters.
Since 2005
$24M+ in Grants
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