Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH)

CSH lobbies and collaborates with politicians at the local, county, and state levels to push for affordable housing programs along with other agenda items to increase the “economic security and mobility” for disenfranchised groups. ² CSH has an initiative inspired by the critical race theory concept of “racial equity” called the Redesigning Access by Centering Equity (RACE) Initiative. ³

In 2023, Corporation for Supportive Housing received $16,958,258 in government grants. ⁴ In 2024, MacKenzie Scott, the ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, gave CSH $40 million. ⁵

Background

Corporation for Supportive Housing was formed in 1991 to fuse affordable housing with social welfare support services for the homeless and those at-risk of being homeless. Its founder Julie Sandorf, a “social entrepreneur,” is said to have been inspired by two Franciscan priests in New York City whose actions kept people “housed and healthy.” It received seed funding from the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the Ford Foundation. ^{1 6}

CSH does business from an office in New York City but is legally domiciled in Delaware. ⁷

Activities

Corporation for Supportive Housing combines affordable housing initiatives with social welfare services to help homeless people or people who may become homeless. It intends to “end cycles of homelessness and institutionalization” by providing both housing and essential services. As of 2025, CSH claimed to operate in nearly all U.S states. ¹

CSH operates in four main areas: to train and educate builders and organizations to create supportive housing; to supply grants and low interest loans to cover construction projects; to provide consultation and technical assistance to the sponsors of housing developments; and to reforms government policies by lobbying and collaborating with local, county, and state agencies. ⁸

In its 2023-2027 strategic plan, CSH stated its intentions to substantially increase affordable “and supportive” housing, reform the services delivery system across its welfare systems, and increase economic security for those both living and working in its supportive housing system. ⁹

CSH works with politicians at the local, county, and state levels to push for affordable housing programs along with other agenda items to increase the “economic security and mobility” of disenfranchised groups. It promotes higher wages and working conditions for the construction industry, increased funding for low-income individuals in affordable housing, reduced barriers to housing, and improvements to the delivery of social services. ²

CSH has an initiative inspired by the critical race theory concept of racial equity called the Redesigning Access by Centering Equity (RACE) Initiative. The project aims to address the “substantial underrepresentation of BIPOC developers” in the affordable housing industry, committing more than $60 million in 2021 to lending and granting money to non-white developers. In 2021, it stated its intentions to increase this amount over the following five years. ³

Financials

Corporation for Supportive Housing received seed funding from the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the Ford Foundation. ¹

In 2023, CSH reported revenue of $75,294,816, expenses of $53,122,792, and net assets of $87,449,821. ¹⁰

Funding

In 2023, Corporation for Supportive Housing received $16,958,258 in government grants. ⁴

In 2024, MacKenzie Scott, the ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, gave CSH $40 million. ⁵ The grant was unrestricted, and was celebrated by CSH’s president and CEO Deborah De Santis in a blog post, who stated the funds would go toward the organization’s affordable housing construction goals outlined in its 2023-2027 strategic plan. ⁹

Grantmaking

In 2023, Corporation for Supportive Housing disbursed grants to many housing construction organizations and projects. These included California-based Affordable Living for the Aging ($175,000), Virginia-based Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing ($300,000), California-based Bold Communities ($175,000), California-based Coalition for Responsible Community Development ($175,000), Ohio-based Coleman Professional Services ($158,910), Ohio-based Community Support Services ($284,452), Illinois-based Cook County Health and Hospitals System ($254,695), Virginia-based Cornerstones Housing Corporation ($300,000), California-based East Los Angeles Community Corporation ($175,000), Ohio-based Eden Inc. ($1,757,498), Ohio-based Faith Mission ($815,189), Ohio-based Greater Cincinnati Behavioral Health Services ($194,124), and Minnesota-based Hearth Connection ($140,000). ¹¹

Other recipients included Ohio-based Homefull ($134,000), Ohio-based Integrated Services for Behavioral Health ($1,738,725), Ohio-based Licking County Coalition for Housing ($761,540), California-based Little Tokyo Service Center ($175,000), Ohio-based Miami Valley Housing Opportunities ($786,228), New Housing Ohio ($287,810), Connecticut-based Pacific House ($117,500), Virginia-based Pathway Homes ($300,000), California-based People Assisting the Homeless (PATH) ($325,000), New York-based Research Foundation for Mental Hygiene ($100,000), California-based Skid Row Housing Trust ($400,000), Southern California Health and Rehabilitation Program (SCHARP) ($175,000), Ohio-based Talbert House ($998,961), TASC of Northwest Ohio ($372,312), Virginia-based Wesley Housing Development Corporation ($300,000), and California-based Women Organizing Resources Knowledge and Services (WORKS) ($175,000). ¹¹

Leadership

As of 2024, Deborah De Santis was the president and CEO of Corporation for Supportive Housing. Stephen Norman was the chair of the board as of 2023. ^{12 9}