A Network Built for What’s Next.
Lutheran Services in America exists not just to support what our network is already doing—but to identify the practice, policy and systems innovations working in one community and ask how they could work in a hundred more. We marshal resources and strengthen infrastructure that allows promising ideas to travel across geographies, populations and contexts.
It takes more than individual programs to ensure every family is stabilized, every elder ages with dignity and every child finds permanence. It takes a network, called forward.
This is what a network built for what’s next looks like: innovations scaled, collaborations catalyzed and resources channeled for nationwide impact.
Increasing Health Through Housing
Catalytic capital, investment-ready housing with services—at scale
Housing is health. Eighty percent of health outcomes are shaped by social factors like stable housing—and a stable home is the foundation for everything else: dignity, care and belonging. And yet, too many families, older adults and people with disabilities cannot access safe, affordable homes.
Just how significant is this crisis?
- 37.1M American households are cost-burdened
- 53% of older renter households are financially strained (4.7M households)
- People experiencing housing insecurity are nearly twice as likely to report poor health.
At the same time, the solution is within reach. Lutheran social ministries have a pipeline of community-centered housing projects ready to move forward. The opportunity is there. What is often missing is the connective infrastructure to turn that opportunity into housing: early-stage capital, technical expertise and the partnerships needed to move projects from vision to reality.
That is the gap Lutheran Services in America is positioned to fill and the leadership it can provide to do so. Through Health Through Housing, we bring together catalytic capital, technical assistance, church and community partnerships, and access to investors—helping promising local projects move from blueprint to breaking ground and creating models that can be replicated across the network.
courtesy of California Lutheran Homes
Many organizations understand the importance of housing and supportive services philosophically— far fewer have developed the operational and financial frameworks to make those models sustainable at scale.”
Cyrus Batheja, President & CEO, Ecumen
courtesy of Inspiritus
Our Work in Action
The following case studies illustrate the kinds of projects Lutheran Services in America is helping to accelerate through catalytic capital, technical assistance and strategic partnerships—creating models that can be replicated across the network to expand affordable housing with services.
Land, trust, services, capital. Rarely do all four come together in a single project. Yet when they do, communities can create housing solutions that transform lives. Read how Inspiritus demonstrated what is possible when these four elements came together to transform an underutilized opportunity into affordable housing for older adults and people with disabilities.
Read how Grace Village, in partnership with California Lutheran Homes, transformed a congregational commitment in the heart of Santa Barbara into 58 units of affordable senior housing.
The Catalysts Driving Change
- Lutheran Services in America’s Health Through Housing initiative took a significant step in its evolution to scale affordable housing solutions by establishing a Flexible Loan Fund, securing seed funding and developing a national fundraising strategy. Our aim is to grow this initiative by securing $25 million by FY29 to expand service-enriched affordable housing for people across the country. Through complementary program-related investments (PRIs) and philanthropic investments, Health Through Housing combines early-stage capital with technical assistance, church and community partnerships, and national coordination—creating the conditions for more affordable housing projects to move from vision to construction.
- Lutheran Services in America acknowledges the inaugural Housing Leadership Circle members, who’ve seeded our effort to achieve our goal: California Lutheran Homes, Lutheran Church Extension Fund, Mission Investment Fund, Lutheran Community Services Northwest, EverTrue, and Lutheran Services Carolinas and CareAxis.
- Five social ministries representing Nebraska, Minnesota, Michigan, Georgia, and New York were selected for the inaugural Health Through Housing Cohort. Drawing on the Results Innovation Lab model, the 26-week cohort experience equips leaders with technical assistance, peer learning, church and community partnerships, and access to catalytic capital to move housing projects from concept to investment-ready opportunities, culminating in a capstone presentation to potential investors.
In Loving Memory of Susan. Our Work Continues.
The Moment is Now!
Health Through Housing is more than a fund or a cohort. It is a national solution designed to unlock affordable housing at scale. Lutheran Services in America is creating the infrastructure that helps local solutions spread. An investment in Health Through Housing is an investment that will enable communities across the country to develop more service-enriched affordable housing for years to come.
next.