Of the myriad issues brought to prominence by the pandemic, schooling and housing have been two of the most prominent. While news outlets, pundits and politicians will often treat them as separate concerns, where we live and where we learn are profoundly linked. To create a more racially just and equitable future for one, we must do so for both.

The CDC’s eviction moratorium ended July 31, thanks to a Supreme Court ruling followed by inaction from Congress and the White House. In a scramble earlier this week, the CDC issued an updated order that bans landlords from evicting tenants through October 31 in “counties experiencing substantial and high levels of community transmission levels,” which covers roughly 90% of the U.S. population.

Unsurprisingly, the eviction threat specifically — and the decades-long housing crisis generally — has disproportionately impacted Black families.

The new CDC order could be quickly struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court, meaning that eviction proceedings would begin right as the new school year begins, an added burden for children and families already uprooted.

The policy solutions to inequitable school funding and inequitable housing have been known for decades.

For education, we must uncouple property taxes from district budgets and rely more heavily on progressive taxation, so that states can distribute funds where they’re needed most. For housing, the solution is rent control, good cause eviction standards, and an ambitious program of building new, quality public housing.

Though few states have made significant progress on these issues (New York being an inspiring outlier), the road to victory for both is the same: building parent, youth, and community organizations rooted in neighborhoods and linked across cities and states.

Many participants in housing struggles will find themselves working on education, and vice versa. That’s how groups like AQE could assemble a multigenerational, multiracial coalition to transform public school funding, but also call for rent, mortgage and eviction relief in their first set of COVID demands last year.

What is Philanthropy’s Role? 
While it’s up to the people to grow organizations and movements, philanthropy can make a difference too, by providing strings-free funding and technical assistance for groups on the front lines of this important work.

In Schott’s #JusticeIsTheFoundation research released earlier this year, we found that only 0.8% of K-12 education foundations invested in racial justice work, which includes exactly the kind of grassroots organizing that’s so desperately needed today.

Parents, students, and educators are stepping up to make systemic change in this historic moment: it’s time for philanthropy to as well.

Read the full article about the eviction crisis from the Schott Foundation for Public Education.