In this blog post, Interim Co-CEO Jessica Venegas reflects on the political moment we are living through, the ways immigration enforcement is shaping housing instability, and what philanthropy must do now to stand with impacted communities and help build a future rooted in housing justice, racial justice, and belonging.

By Jessica Venegas, Interim Co-CEO

I recently asked our team how we should respond to this moment, as immigration enforcement escalates, mixed-status families face new threats to housing assistance, and federal policies continue to destabilize the very communities our work is meant to support. I asked the question because I need clarity myself. The pace of what is happening around us makes it easy to feel overwhelmed, but it also makes it impossible to stay silent. 

People who know me know that I do not sit back and watch from a distance. I step in, show up, and stay close to the people most affected, because that is where the truth lives. And right now, the truth is hard to ignore. 

Each night, helicopters circle overhead while the National Guard vehicles move through neighborhood streets. Families hesitate to answer the door as federal agents take people from their communities while the rest of the country moves on to the next headline. For many of us, this is not breaking news. This is daily life. 

I keep asking the same question: how is this not personal for everyone? How can anyone look at what is happening to immigrant communities and see it as separate from the work of housing justice, racial justice, or the future we say we want to build? 

For me, the connection is clear: The fight for immigrant rights IS a housing justice issue. 

Housing instability does not start with eviction notices or rent increases. Systems create instability when they decide who belongs, who receives protection, and who can be pushed aside. In this country, those decisions have always followed the same lines of race, immigration status, wealth, and power. This looks like redlining, urban renewal, and mass incarceration. We see it again now in militarized enforcement and policies that target immigrant communities. 

When people fear detention or deportation, housing stability stands on shaky ground. When a parent disappears, a family loses income overnight. When policies exclude mixed-status families from assistance, children who are citizens face eviction. When communities live under surveillance and intimidation, they lose the ability to organize, advocate, and protect one another. 

This is not separate from housing justice. This is how housing injustice happens. 

This moment demands honesty from all of us, especially from those of us in philanthropy. We often say philanthropy cannot replace government, and that remains true. But we cannot use that statement to excuse inaction when government itself causes harm. When federal policy destabilizes families, threatens housing programs, and deepens racial inequities, philanthropy must decide where it stands. 

We do not have to look far back in our history to recognize this pattern. This country has always relied on the othering and exploitation of poor Black, Brown, Indigenous, and immigrant communities to maintain power. When leaders restrict resources, increase fear, and redirect blame, families lose stability and communities lose ground. In those moments, the distance between what we say we believe and what we actually fund becomes impossible to ignore. 

As Ibram X. Kendi writes in How to Be an Antiracist: “The only way to undo racism is to consistently identify and describe it — and then dismantle it.” 

We have to name what is happening now. Then we must act. 

At Funders Together for Housing Justice, we talk about the need to block and build. We must block the policies that harm people in this moment, while building the future we know is possible. That means opposing enforcement and rule changes that destabilize immigrant families. It also means investing in community-led solutions that create real housing security over the long term. 

We see the urgency of this right now in the proposed rule that would strip housing assistance from mixed-status families. If this rule moves forward, families will have to choose between separation and homelessness, while children will lose stability and housing programs will weaken, putting others at risk. The rule sends a clear message about who deserves safety and who does not. 

Moments like this force a choice. They force us to decide whether we will stay comfortable or be accountable. 

For me, this is not theoretical. I think about my family. I think about my community. I think about the generations who carried us here and the generations who will live with the choices we make now. We do not get to decide whether we are part of this story. We only decide how we show up in it. 

We will not achieve housing justice if we stay silent while immigrant communities face attack. Nor will we achieve liberation if fear decides who deserves safety. If we continue to refuse to act when it matters most, we will not have the opportunity to build a future where everyone can thrive. 

Despite it all, we are here at this moment. We have resources and responsibility. And the fight for immigrant rights is part of the fight for housing justice. 

Jessica Venegas is the Funders Together for Housing Justice interim Co-CEO and a longtime leader in housing justice, community development, and philanthropy. With more than 25 years of experience spanning direct service, organizing, and national systems change efforts, Jessica is committed to advancing housing stability, racial equity, and community-led solutions. Her career began in affordable housing, public schools, and neighborhood-based work before shifting to national efforts to end homelessness and strengthen the systems that support families and communities. Most recently, she served as a founding team member at Community Solutions, where she led strategic partnerships and fundraising to support community-driven approaches to ending homelessness.