Uncertainty Is the CrisisWhat We Heard from Local Community Developers in 2025By Frank Woodruff Earlier this year, we activated our Community Development Voice representatives to understand how federal funding cuts, delays, and uncertainty are affecting community developers. We asked about their operations, services, and development pipelines. Their responses offer a grounded snapshot of what organizations are experiencing right now, and what concerns them about the future. Pictured: Community Development Voice representatives Larry Fisher of the Appalachian Center for Economic Networks in Athens, Ohio and Kersy Azocar of Greenline Access Capital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
To move past the speculation and hear directly from organizations about what they’re experiencing on the ground, we activated Community Development Voice representatives to separate inside-the-beltway bluster from tangible community impact. The picture that emerged is more nuanced than what many of us feared back in the spring. The absolute worst hasn’t happened. But the uncertainty itself is taking a toll. Service-oriented organizations, in particular, are feeling the strain. Shortfalls and delayed decisions are affecting things like school lunches, WiFi access, senior programming, and other essentials that residents count on, and community development organizations provide. Even when an organization’s overall budget remains stable, the unpredictability makes planning incredibly difficult. And because commitments are being pulled back or delayed with little warning, groups are forced to reduce services that their communities depend on earlier than they otherwise would. Nonprofit developers are navigating an equally-serious set of challenges. Their work requires long planning horizons, and this is exactly the kind of environment that makes long-range planning almost impossible. With federal appropriations uncertain, timelines shifting, and inadequate communication from public and private funders, nonprofit developers can’t move real estate projects forward with the financial certainty they need and their underwriters demand. Add rising insurance, labor, and construction costs and the friction becomes even greater. This uncertainty is preventing development of affordable housing now and will continue to for the foreseeable future. Uneven communication from funders is making a hard moment even harder. Some organizations are getting timely information and clear explanations about what’s changing. But many others are not. That inconsistency is shaping hiring, service decisions, and development plans in ways that don’t serve communities well. In a year defined by uncertainty, communication has become a form of stability, and we simply don’t have enough of it.
These findings are meant to help us name what’s real, surface what’s emerging, and stay ahead of the challenges so we can support one another and keep building strong, stable communities. As we head into 2026, we’ll need to stay extremely focused on the forces shaping our operating environment. That means advocating aggressively for the federal programs that make our work possible, monitoring appropriations and any shifts in the Community Reinvestment Act, and watching development costs that continue to rise with no relief in sight. |
Throughout 2025, I’ve heard a lot of worry from members about what federal funding cuts, delays, and political uncertainty might mean for their organizations. Some of that fear has been driven by real signals coming out of Washington, DC. Some has been driven by rising insurance, labor, materials, and land costs that were already stretching developments thin. And much of it has simply been the feeling that 
Even with all the uncertainty, what stood out most in the responses was the resilience and ingenuity of this field. Yes, some organizations are planning for reduced capacity or delaying hiring, but they’re doing so thoughtfully, with an eye toward long-term stability rather than short-term panic. Many are finding creative ways to stretch resources, adjust timelines, and strengthen partnerships. Others are using this moment to sharpen their strategic focus or invest more deeply in community relationships.