Community Housing Services
Industry Profile Report
Dive Deep into the industry with a 25+ page industry report (pdf format) including the following chapters
Industry Overview Current Conditions, Industry Structure, How Firms Operate, Industry Trends, Credit Underwriting & Risks, and Industry Forecast.
Call Preparation Call Prep Questions, Industry Terms, and Weblinks.
Financial Insights Working Capital, Capital Financing, Business Valuation, and Financial Benchmarks.
Industry Profile Excerpts
Industry Overview
The 6,500 community housing providers in the US offer emergency and transitional housing. Firms may also subsidize housing using existing homes, apartments, hotels, or motels. The industry includes organizations that provide low-cost housing in partnership with the homeowner who assists in construction or repair of a home (Habitat for Humanity) and that repair homes for the elderly or disabled homeowners.
Dependence on Government Funding
The community housing industry is dependent on government funding, which accounts for about 60% of social assistance (over 40% of total revenue).
Shift to Permanent Housing
Government policy that prioritizes ending homelessness quickly has created more permanent housing solutions for the homeless.
Industry size & Structure
The average community housing provider employs between 15 and 23 workers and generates between $1.7 million and $2 million annually.
- The community housing industry consists of about 6,500 organizations that employ about 128,000 workers and generate almost $13 billion annually. Temporary shelters account for 48% of establishments and 44% of revenue. Other types of community housing account for 52% of establishments and 56% of revenue.
- The industry is highly fragmented; the top 50 companies account for between 25.8% and 29.2% of industry revenue.
- Most organizations are small and independent and operate at a local level. National organizations like Habitat for Humanity are the exception. Almost all organizations (over 95%) are tax-exempt.
- The community housing industry is part of a complex network of emergency shelters, transitional housing, permanent supportive housing, and public housing.
- US cities with the highest rates of homelessness include Washington DC, Boston, New York, San Francisco, and Santa Rosa, CA.
Industry Forecast
Community Housing Services Industry Growth
Recent Developments
Mar 8, 2023 - Services may Benefit As Disaster Philanthropy Transitions
- Grantmaking foundations are changing how they respond to disasters by supporting education about preparedness and building resilience and local leadership in communities likely to face greater hardships from disasters, according to The Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy. “Key actors — like the Center for Disaster Philanthropy and many community foundations — are helping to drive the understanding that emergency response alone is unequal to the threat posed by recurring disasters,” the Center's "11 Trends in Philanthropy for 2023” report states. Disaster philanthropy in the wake of both Hurricane Katrina and the 9/11 attacks tended to be present-oriented despite reminders that resources would also be needed for long-term recovery and rebuilding, the report notes.
- The $1.7 trillion spending bill passed by the US Congress in late in 2022 includes funding that may help meet demand for community housing services. Nearly $6.4 billion goes to the Community Development Block Grant program and other local economic and community development projects that benefit low- and moderate-income areas and people – a $1.6 billion increase in funding. Another $324 million goes to the Treasury Department’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund to promote economic and community development in low-income communities, including investments in low-income housing. About $1 billion was appropriated for the Housing for the Elderly and Housing for Persons with Disabilities program under the US Department of Housing and Urban Development.
- The November Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing by cryptocurrency exchange giant FTX has cast doubt on the future of so-called crypto philanthropy. FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried’s philanthropic fund has halted donations. Community housing providers receive revenue for providing shelter and assistance services primarily through private and government contributions, gifts, and grants. Bankman-Fried had emerged as a leader of what has been dubbed the "effective altruism" movement, which sought to reshape philanthropy. Crypto philanthropy has exploded over the last two years. Fidelity Charitable received around $330 million in cryptocurrency in 2021 up from $28 million in 2020. The Giving Block, a cryptocurrency donation platform, reported $69 million in total donation volume last year, an impressive 1,558% spike from 2020. Major exchanges like Coinbase and Binance launched their own philanthropy initiatives. Most nonprofits don’t keep the crypto they receive: They convert it to traditional currency.
- US housing officials are turning to judges to slow the rise in evictions. The state supreme court in New Mexico, for example, launched an eviction diversion program, an effort to bring landlords and tenants together to resolve their disputes and to connect renters with resources to bring their accounts up to good standing. The Biden administration highlighted the New Mexico initiative during an August 2022 summit on evictions, an event focused specifically on judiciary actions to try to prevent evictions at the court level. An eviction diversion program in Philadelphia has led to settlement or resolution in 85% of the cases that have come up for mediation, reducing total evictions by more than two-thirds. At least 180 jurisdictions across 36 states have adopted some form of eviction diversion since President Biden took office, the White House says.
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