Columbus, OH (August 13, 2026)—Today, in response to a marked increase in need and potential decrease in shelter capacity for those experiencing housing instability in central Ohio, the Governing Committee of The Columbus Foundation has just approved a special emergency grant of $2 million from its reserves to Community Shelter Board (CSB).
Without this and any possible additional funding from the public or private sector, CSB has projected a 43 percent reduction in shelter capacity, with service reductions beginning in the next couple of weeks.
“We must do all we can to provide a full continuum of housing options for our neighbors,” said Doug Kridler, President and CEO of The Columbus Foundation. “The possibility that at a time when our community is enjoying growth and economic development wins, we might have to diminish the number of folks who can be housed through our system of care is something The Columbus Foundation certainly wants to help prevent from happening.”
The grant will be paid over two years. The first $1 million will help close the current funding gap and mitigate the decrease in the number of people served in facilities managed by CSB’s community partners.
This is the second time The Columbus Foundation has dipped into its reserves to make a grant to CSB. In 2025, the Foundation announced a $2 million grant to the organization. The Columbus Foundation and its donors have awarded nearly $10 million in grants over the past year to the Community Shelter Board and its shelter partner organizations.
“Private philanthropy has an important role to play in supporting our community and meeting its challenges, and The Columbus Foundation and its donors work hard to do all we can to strengthen our community for the benefit of all of its residents,” Kridler said. “At the same time, we appreciate all that Franklin County and the City of Columbus are doing for the people of this community through their funding of vital human services. It is our hope that a pathway can be found to a sustainable funding model for funding human services in the future, perhaps along the lines recommended in the extensive report from the Funding Review Advisory Committee released earlier this year.”
Over the past two years, the need for shelter across the system has increased. The 2026 Point-In-Time Count, conducted in January in Columbus and Franklin County, identified a year-over-year increase of 16 percent for those experiencing chronic homelessness, a 32 percent increase in survivors of domestic abuse, and a 42 percent increase in people reporting severe mental illness. Total homelessness rose 1.2 percent to 2,587 people.
“We owe a debt of gratitude to Columbus Foundation donors, supporters of our Emergency Response Fund II, and those who support The Columbus Foundation’s unrestricted funding for such flexible, greatest needs purposes,” Kridler said. “That’s what makes this possible.”