The Paradox of Purpose-Driven Organizations

A lot of work gets redone. Organizations operate in silos, and somewhere along the way, especially the ones who’ve established themselves, they start playing a transactional game.

“What are you bringing to the table? Why should we partner with you?”

And then months later, you see those same organizations posting about the very problems you were trying to collaborate on. Speaking passionately about impact. Sharing why it urgently needs to be addressed. The mission did not change. The politics did.

Here is what I have come to believe after watching this pattern repeat itself. A significant portion of the energy in this space is not going toward solving problems. It is going toward sustaining structures. Keeping the money moving so salaries keep coming. Protecting brand equity. Quietly fighting for credit in rooms where collaboration should be the only agenda.

And I want to be clear, this is not always intentional. Most people in this space genuinely care. But good intentions do not automatically translate into good systems. Organizations, like people, develop survival instincts. And those instincts, left unchecked, can quietly replace the original mission.

This is why I think non-profits and ecosystem enablers need to hold themselves to a different standard. The north star should be to work yourself out of a job. To exist with the sole purpose of ceasing to exist. Success is not your organization growing bigger. Success is the problem going away.

If someone takes your model, your framework, your platform, and creates ten times the impact, that is not a loss. That is the whole point. That is what you should be celebrating.

The hardest part of mission-driven work is not the complexity of the problem you are trying to solve. It is being honest enough to ask whether the structure you have built is still serving the mission, or whether the mission has slowly started serving the structure.

That is a question worth sitting with.

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The whole section 8 term limits thing is based on the idea that anyone who needs rental assistance just needs temporary help to “get back on their feet” & it completely overlooks the fact that no amount of time is going to make it so people who work low wage jobs (or elderly or disabled people) will earn 3.5x the rent.

I had to be homeless for years after becoming disabled because my disability payment was not 3 1/2 times the rent. My current apartment was $825 a month back then, and I could have paid that because I really didn’t have any other bills. But they wouldn’t let me so I had to wait until I could get Housing assistance. No amount of term limiting would have changed that, and that was long before the covid greed hit the landlords.

They all tell everyone they should just go get a better job but they sure do throw a tantrum if they have to wait too long at Starbucks because no one can afford to work there unless they are willing to live in a tent.

https://www.nahro.org/news/submit-comments-on-huds-term-limit-and-work-requirement-proposed-rule/

#HUD #housing #Section8 #PBV #HCV #WorkRequirements

Some actual winning:

Judge rules that HUD effort to change criteria for homeless funding is unlawful – WATE 6 On Your Side https://www.wate.com/news/national/ap-us-news/ap-judge-rules-that-hud-effort-to-change-criteria-for-homeless-funding-is-unlawful/

#housing #HUD #Section8 #EHV

Yikes. The housing authority near me already limits the amount disabled people can deduct for medical expenses ($2500 a year), which is new this year.

HUD Term Limits and Work Requirements Proposed Rule Published - The National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials (NAHRO) https://www.nahro.org/news/early-draft-of-hud-work-requirement-and-term-limit-proposed-rule-leaked/

#HUD #Section8 #housing

This is a bad sign. The section 8 office hours have been reduced. It would be nice if this was because they fired the woman who liked using the “personal responsibility” dog whistle, but I suspect it’s because they are anticipating reduced funding. (I think they always had half days on Fridays, but these are weird hours for a business office.)

The had also told us last year that disabled people with no other income wouldn’t have annual recertification anymore (maybe they meant after this one? 🤦🏻‍♀️). Then I got recertification in the mail I had to sign and send back in 7 days, but all the numbers were wrong. I had all the medical expenses I needed to submit (because collecting 3 years worth would be overwhelming, so I planned to compile them annually so I would be ready) but now I am stressed I will lose my benefits because they won’t have corrected the forms by the 7th day deadline.

If my brain fog is ok tomorrow I might try hand correcting the worksheet with my numbers, correcting the rent amount and sending it signed and corrected with a red pen. At least then they can’t kick me off the program for not returning the documents.

My last caseworker was so nice and helpful. She never stressed me out, she would literally tell me not to worry about nitpicky stuff like a 7 day deadline. And we would talk about cats and health and safety stuff. She got promoted and I got stuck with the “personal responsibility” bitch so now I worry about sabotage. My rent went down but they didn’t note the SSDI COLA (or my extreme insurance premium increase) so it felt like a trap. STRESSED UGH

#NH #housing #Section8

Vulnerable Renters Are Fearful as Emergency Housing Vouchers Wind Down

https://murica.website/2025/10/vulnerable-renters-are-fearful-as-emergency-housing-vouchers-wind-down/

I’m a disabled person who was homeless until I could get a section 8 voucher because my SSDI is not 3 1/2 times any rent anywhere around here.

The new caseworker said the “personal responsibility” dog whistle to me on Friday and I can’t stop thinking about it. She also told me if I was upset about the health and safety issues here that would cause my place to fail the annual inspection if I was getting one that I should leave. That’s another right wing bullshit thing: “If you don’t like it you should LEAVE” whenever anyone has an issue with an abusive boss for example.

I laughed at her when she said that, and I was like yeah I would love to. Is the Housing Authority going to pay for movers for me? The next person who lives here will want the health and safety issues fixed so how would that solve the problem of you not making the landlord fix things?

The old caseworker is a sweetheart, she gave me the email for the other lady’s boss, but I don’t think I have the balls to complain.

If the bigot screws up my housing I will literally die. I used to get mad at my mother when she wouldn’t stand up for herself because she was afraid of retaliation. As I get older I keep telling her out loud (she’s deceased) that she was right.

But I’m still really mad about it. I don’t even understand why a bigot would want to work for the Housing authority unless they are there to sabotage it. And because my dumbass complained to her coworker I don’t think I can even anonymously drop a dime because they’ll know it’s me.

It’s not like they would fire her for being right wing, but it still feels crazy to me that she feels that comfortable saying that shit.

#bigotry #Section8 #CHA