OSAH State Partners: Best Practices in Multi-Sector Coalition Building

Since 2018, our state partners have worked to build multi-sector coalitions to advance affordable housing solutions both within their states and nationally. The national campaign compiled examples of state campaign activities over the years, and the following best practices in multi-sector coalition building are drawn from those examples.

Expand Existing Networks

  • Housing California created a Statewide Taskforce within it’s existing Residents United Network.
  • Partnership for Strong Communities strengthened their HomeConnecticut (HOMECT) campaign, which already engaged with partners in education, health, civil rights, criminal justice, environmental/energy, transit, and business. They restructured the campaign’s existing steering committee and advisory committees to include additional voices. They worked to extend the involvement of multi-sector partners’ participation in federal housing advocacy, in addition to the state policy advocacy the campaign historically has done. They implemented stakeholder and community input from 2021/2022 strategic planning efforts to identify additional sectors to prioritize engaging.
  • Prosperity Indiana, through the Hoosier Housing Needs Coalition, established an Engagement Team of multi-sector partners to help spread the word about how housing policy affects their sector. The OSAH Engagement Team has a formal structure with its own charter and convenes semi-regularly to plan strategically targeted and time policy-oriented activities. Completed activities include: op-eds, letters to legislators, social media campaigns, sign-on letter participation, and participation in NLIHC’s Hill Day. Activities are planned and tracked using a calendar to ensure they occur at the most opportune times and all involved partners are accountable. OSAH engagement team member work is also highlighted in quarterly Hoosier Housing Needs Coalition newsletters and shared directly with Indiana’s congressional delegation.
  • Prosperity Indiana features OSAH policy priorities in every Hoosier Housing Needs Coalition meeting, which has over 1,500 members and subscribers and many from different sectors. Prosperity Indiana also sends
  • Wisconsin Community Action Association developed their network through monthly Steering, Advocacy and Outreach committees. WISCAP also partners with The Wisconsin Council of Churches and League of Wisconsin Municipalities to convene a larger group, the Badger State Housing Alliance, through quarterly meetings. BSHA also shares a monthly email newsletter.
  • Mississippi Center for Justice staff utilized their personal/social networks to identify and bring on multi-sector partners. Each partner was introduced to the policy priorities of NLIHC and asked to reflect upon the priorities that most resonated with their work and people they serve.
  • Texas Homeless Network developed new partners to collaborate with through one-on-one meetings and invitations to join the THN Advocates meetings. In 2023 the group grew to 96 members and partnerships were formed with mental health, disability access, and community development organizations.

Create a Steering or Advisory Committee

  • The Housing & Community Development Network of NJ (HCDNNJ) created a multi-sector advisory committee that includes state civil rights, child development, environment, faith, and labor partners.
  • Empower Missouri created a multi-sector steering committee for their Housing Partners Coalition. The steering committee includes healthcare, community development, disability access, refugee services, legal services, education, and domestic violence services.

Provide Small Subgrants to Support Participation of Members

  • Minnesota Housing Partnership’s OSAH-MN campaign provided 7 subgrants to: American Indian Community Housing Organization, Freedom from the Streets, Internal Housing Assistant, Lincoln Park Resource Center, Minneapolis Highrise Association, Somali Social Service Association, and Voices of Ethnic and Multicultural Awareness
  • Housing Action Illinois allocated funding for subgrants for 4 multi-sector partners: Illinois Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Illinois Network of Centers for Independent Living, the Refugee Action Network and Working Family Solidarity. HAI executed an MOU with each subgrantee committing them to activities to support campaign goals.

Reach Out to Podcasts and Talk Shows That Could Feature Campaign

  • COHHIO was featured on a Doorsteps podcast, which explores housing challenges facing Ohioans. They discussed the housing affordability crisis in Ohio, the disinvestment of housing resources throughout the state, necessary policy solutions, and the intersections between housing and other sectors.
  • Housing Action Illinois OSAH subgrantee ICAAP participated in a WBEZ Chicago talk show about family housing instability.

Co-host Affordable Housing Development and Homelessness Service Provider Tours

  • COHHIO cohosted a tour of a supportive, affordable housing complex for formerly homeless veterans and veterans with disabilities with National Church Residences (NCR) and the Ohio Department of Veterans Services. The tour also featured guest speaker Shawn Dawling with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
  • COHHIO partnered with Findlay Hope House to host a tour of Hope House, which serves individuals and families experiencing homelessness through education, affordable housing, and advocacy. The director of the Ohio Development Services Agency was present, and the tour featured a speaker from Findlay City Schools who discussed the intersections between education and housing.
  • Partnership for Strong Communities, NeighborWorks New Horizons, and local and regional partners hosted a federal site visit with Rep. Courtney and local elected leaders on September 6, 2023, at Spruce Meadows in Stonington to promote a mixed-income development.
  • Texas Homeless Network worked with partner Grand Prairie Homeless Outreach to coordinate an onsite visit from Representative Marc Veasey.

Create Reports and Fact Sheets That Emphasize the Connections Between Housing and Other Sectors

  • Idaho Asset Building Network (IABN) released a “Housing Affordability Chartbook” designed to inform multi-sector partners, residents, and elected officials about why housing matters in so many areas of life.
  • Colorado Coalition for the Homeless collaborated with partners to develop and release 10 fact sheets highlighting the intersections between housing and disability rights, LGBTQ+ rights, labor, education, health, mental health, hunger, immigrants rights, and the criminal legal system.

Create Visual and Social Media Content

  • Colorado Coalition for the Homeless produced a short documentary with partners that highlights the experience and expertise of nonprofit leaders and people who have experienced homelessness or housing instability across the state.
  • Arizona Housing Coalition and Children’s Action Alliance partnered with other housing-focused advocacy groups to collect stories from families struggling from Arizona’s affordable housing crisis and shared short videos on social media.
  • In 2021, West Virginia Coalition to End Homelessness launched a housing-focused media campaign with a multi-sector lens. The campaign targeted the state’s senators in support of passage of the Build Back Better Act.

Conduct Statewide Polling

  • Colorado Coalition for the Homeless worked with Lake Research Partners in Washington DC to conduct polling on people’s perception, understanding and attitudes related to “filtering” or “trickle-down housing.” This data helped create several documents: an external one-pager to share with policymakers and community members, an internal one-pager to help refine messaging used to discuss policy changes, and a “say this not that” document that helped shift the language we use to talk about housing insecurity, homelessness, investments in affordable housing, and development of affordable housing.
  • The national campaign collaborated with COHHIO and South Carolina Association of Community Action Partnerships (SCACAP) to conduct two statewide opinion polls in Ohio and South Carolina, commissioned through Hart Research Associates. The polls assess how voters in each state feel about the state of affordable housing where they live, and their beliefs about the role of government and their elected leaders in affordable housing. The poll also tested specific policy solutions from the national campaign’s policy agenda, and the results showed strong bipartisan support for these solutions. Poll results were shared in press statements, email blasts and social media posts leading up to the November 2024 election.

Collaborate with Partners on Articles and Op-Eds that Emphasize the Connections Between Affordable Housing and Other Outcomes

  • North Carolina and NC Child collaborated on an op-ed that was published in multiple media outlets.
  • Idaho Asset Building Network campaign partner Idaho Interfaith Roundtable Against Hunger wrote an op-ed on the importance of federal affordable housing investments that was published in multiple outlets
  • Idaho Asset Building Network campaign partner United Way of North Idaho wrote an op-ed on the importance of affordable housing for early childhood development and educational outcomes
  • Housing Action Illinois included a quote from the Illinois Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics in its press release on The Gap 2023 report.

Co-host In-Person and Virtual Events with Partners

  • Oregon Housing Alliance and Oregon Food Bank gathered in Portland to discuss their model of multi-sector collaboration. Oregon Food Bank is one of the Alliance’s most active members, and one of the few food banks nationally that works specifically on affordable housing advocacy at both the state and federal levels.
  • Utah Housing Coalition (UHC) hosted its first congressional panel on affordable housing under the banner of the OSAH campaign. The panel focused on the deep intersections between housing, hunger, education, and healthcare in urban and rural Utah, and panelists included residents with lived experience and multi-sector policy experts. The event engaged residents, local policy experts, and bipartisan representatives and candidates for Congress. From this event, UHC created a formula for a “forum in a box” to talk about housing and its multi-sector connections with elected officials, candidates, policy experts, and the broader community throughout the state.
  • HCDNNJ partnered with other advocacy organizations to engage federal policy makers by hosting annual Congressional Receptions in DC. Hundreds of New Jersey Residents attended the event to meet with the state’s senators and representatives to talk about how federal housing programs have benefitted them and ask that investments be protected and expanded.
  • Minnesota Housing Partnership’s OSAH-MN campaign held a virtual federal housing advocacy training that featured campaign partners New American Development Center, Metropolitan Interfaith Council on Affordable Housing (MICAH), Somali Social Service Association, Lincoln Park Resource Center, and Community Stabilization Project.
  • Partnership for Strong Communities holds monthly webinars with advocates and leaders in other sectors to talk about the impact of affordable housing on their work.
  • Housing Action Illinois collaborated with partners in the disability rights sector to offer a session on reasonable accommodations and supporting people with disabilities at their 2023 annual conference.
  • Low Income Housing Coalition of Alabama presented at conferences for organizations including: Habitat for Humanity, Alabama Association of Community Action Agencies, and Alabama Department of Public Health to make share their OSAH work and policy priorities.
  • WISCAP co-sponsored a major Faith Baith Housing Meeting in Madison, Wisconsin that launched a network of activity around advocacy, development, and support for issues on the federal, state, and local level.
  • Arizona Housing Coalition and Children’s Action Alliance partnered on an event to launch their #housearizona and #sinemasayyes campaigns.
  • North Carolina Housing Coalition and NC Child held Housing/Children First workshops meant to integrate housing policy ideas into the framework of what child advocates are focusing on in their communities.

Collaborate on Letters to Representatives in Support of OSAH’s Policy Priorities

  • Prosperity Indiana, in partnership with NLIHC and Hoosier Housing Needs Coalition, sent a letter to Senator Tod Young urging him to reintroduce the Eviction Crisis Act and work to include it and the Family Stability and Opportunity Vouchers Act in any bipartisan housing package that moves forward in the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee. Signatories on the letter included 75 national and Indiana multi-sector organizations, including anti-hunger, health, youth, community development, anti-poverty, and faith-based groups.
  • Prosperity Indiana, in partnership with Hoosier Housing Needs Coalition and six faith-based organizations, sent a letter to Senator Young urging him to reintroduce the Eviction Crisis Act and highlighting the importance of provisions in the ECA to faith groups.
  • Idaho Asset Building Network, along with four multi-sector partners, submitted a letter to Senator Mike Crapo supporting the Housing Choice Voucher Mobility Demonstration Act. At the time, Sen. Crapo was the chair of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs
  • In collaboration with the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Housing California partnered with health-focused organizations to send a letter to California’s 55 U.S. senators and representatives. The letter urged the delegation to support adequate federal funding for rental assistance for people with the lowest incomes, including full funding to renew all Housing Choice Vouchers
  • Colorado Housing Coalition for the Homeless and partners wrote several letters to the Colorado Congressional Delegation on OSAH and NLIHC priorities.
  • Low Income Housing Coalition of Alabama wrote an Opportunity Starts at Home Alabama letter supporting solutions to address homelessness. Signatories included 82 state and local organizations.

Create a Unique Website or Webpage for Your Campaign

  • Minnesota Housing Partnership created a unique webpage for OSAH-MN that has information on past campaign accomplishments, a federal advocacy toolkit, and a short video with a role play of meeting with a member of Congress.
  • Colorado Coalition for the Homeless created a page on their website for OSAH related activities and materials.