The Revolution Will Not Be Funded | Part 2 of 3 from Letters to the Housed by Paul Asplund of SecondGrace.LA

Welcome back. We ended last week with a quote from Lumbee Tribal member Edgar Villanueva: "All of us who have been forced to the margins are the very ones who harbor the best solutions." But those solutions remain unfunded because funders with the least connection to problems control resources meant to solve them. This week, we're digging deeper into the inequality—and inequity—in the vast majority of nonprofit boards.

Homelessness, Community, Letters to the HousedPaul AsplundNovember 17, 2025EndHomelessness, NonprofitLeadership, SocialJustice, RadicalHospitality, MissionDrift, SystemicChange, HousingJustice, CommunityOrganizing, PhilanthropyReform, TraumaInformedComment

The Revolution Will Not Be Funded | Part 1 of 3 from Letters to the Housed by Paul Asplund of SecondGrace.LA

How big funding systematically warps nonprofit missions. Research on institutional isomorphism, the nonprofit industrial complex, and choosing mission over money.

Homelessness, Community, Letters to the HousedPaul AsplundNovember 8, 2025EndHomelessness, NonprofitLeadership, SocialJustice, RadicalHospitality, MissionDrift, SystemicChange, HousingJustice, CommunityOrganizing, PhilanthropyReform, TraumaInformedComment

Part 3: The Money and the Mechanisms from Letters to the Housed by Paul Asplund of Second Grace LA

Los Angeles has $700-790 million in available funding to build 11,700-15,000 Vienna-style social housing units by the 2028 Olympics. Learn how Measure ULA, Palisades reconstruction, and Olympic funds can solve our housing crisis with proven cost-rent financing models.

Letters to the Housed, HomelessnessPaul AsplundNovember 1, 2025EndHomelessness, RadicalHospitality, SystemicChange, SocialHousing, ViennaModel, LA2028Olympics, MeasureU, #AffordableHousing, HousingJustice, CommunityAction, TraumaInformed, SecondGraceLA, HousingFirst, PublicHousing, OlympicLegacyComment

Part 3: The Deeper Conversations - Philosophy and Systems Change from Letters to the Housed by Paul Asplund of Second Grace LA

Designing LA County's new Department of Homeless Services revealed a deeper paradox: Can incremental reform address a crisis rooted in capitalism and structural injustice?

Homelessness, Letters to the Housed, Human Centered DesignPaul AsplundOctober 13, 2025HomelessnessLA, LACounty, SystemsChange, StructuralChange, HousingJustice, LivedExperience, AssetFraming, AntiCapitalism, HomelessServicesComment

When Fear Comes Knocking: Immigration Raids Push More LA Families Into Homelessness - Letters to the Housed

Over the past five years, anywhere from 127–230 Angelenos have lost their housing every day. But now, we're facing a perfect storm: immigration raids are pushing families into homelessness just as the January fires in Altadena and Pacific Palisades have destroyed over 16,000 structures. California experienced a 3.1% drop in private-sector jobs within a single week after federal immigration raids—worse than the Great Recession or early COVID. With 600,000 people in LA County rent-burdened and 67% of undocumented households already struggling before the raids, fear itself has become a driver of homelessness. But solutions exist: direct cash assistance programs are proving effective, and LA's mansion tax has $14.6 million ready for deployment to help families stay housed.