Economic Challenges and Opportunities

Compared to during the pandemic, Joana Perez, a Los Angeles native and mother of 8, describes her family’s situation as having improved. “[We are] so much better than where we were.”

During the pandemic, Perez was staying at home, juggling the demands of the household and online schooling for her children. “Back then, when the pandemic hit, I was pregnant, then had my son, and then we still added another child, so I was still more of a stay-at-home mother,” Joana remembers. This was a difficult time for her family. She and her husband struggled to pay the bills.

But now, over 5 years later, a lot of changes have happened for Joana. She learned she has a gift to advocate for her community. She received her certification as a peer support specialist and is a case manager serving individuals with severe mental health challenges and who are unsheltered.

“Through the pandemic, [I] realized that, hey, I have a voice. I actually have two voices, because I’m bilingual,” Joana describes her strong passion for advocacy. “I think that really is my main drive, is always helping marginalized communities that feel that they can’t speak for themselves, or they feel unheard.”

High cost of housing and groceries

Today, Joana has a full-time job and can afford her rent. Like many Latino families, Perez and her family have benefited from government support to help weather the financial challenges. For almost 4 years, her family has received assistance from the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles’ Emergency Housing Voucher Program, which provided her family with support to pay their rent for a house that her and her family could live in comfortably. “The rents in LA are ridiculous. And so, the fact that we were able to get a place that was big enough for our family at an affordable price was very life-changing, to say the least.”

This assistance, however, will end at the end of this year, earlier than expected due to accelerated funding cuts from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. This makes Joana worry. “We are a little nervous about losing [the assistance] in December, but we’ve tried our best to be smart with our money and save.”

Like Joana, many Latino families expressed concerns with the rising costs of everyday items, including housing, gas, and groceries. For Joana, the rising cost of food prices has also affected her, and she feels it every time she goes to the grocery store. She describes how she feels when she pays for her groceries. “I mean, I go grocery shop, and literally can have $200 worth of groceries in 2 bags.”

Many Latinos also report that lowering food costs would help ensure that their family has access to healthy, nutritious food. This was something that Joana also stressed for her family. While she is able to pay for her groceries, she admits it is not always the high quality, organic food that she knows her children need to be healthy. “We’re probably feeding them more processed foods than we would like to stay within our budget.”

Increasing support for housing and financial literacy

Like so many families who participated in our survey, Joana believes the government should do more to address rising costs. She especially believes that providing housing assistance would help her and so many families like hers be able to thrive. “I mean, it’s scary to say, but I have friends and family that literally 75% of what they make is just for them to have a roof over their head, ” Joana says. She believes that programs that make housing more affordable can create a significant boost for pockets of Latino families.

She would also like to see more programs that provide financial literacy for her community. Joana explains that by providing more information about how to invest, how to save, and offering programs that assist families on their path to homeownership, families can be empowered economically “so that people don’t feel like they [have to] stay on assistance for a lifetime.”

Taking action for her and her family’s future

Looking ahead, Joana feels hopeful, and she and her husband are taking action by investing in themselves. They are in the middle of signing a lease for her husband to start his own wholesale flower business. “He’s worked at the Flower District for almost 30 years, but he’s always worked for someone else,” Joana explains.

Joana and her husband’s story follows a trend among the Latino community. Our survey shows that one in five (21%) Latino parents started their own business in 2026. This is just one strategy among several that Latino parents are engaging in to help their families in economically challenging times.

Joana is hopeful that this new opportunity will give them financial freedom, setting the stage for a better future for their family. “Seeing the times and how everything’s getting, I told him: if an opportunity arises, I think you need to stop working to help other people fulfill their dreams, and just do something for yourself and for our family. Something that can be a legacy.