When Rosa, her partner and her four children came to us, they were like many families who have come through our doors: a young family just trying to get back on their feet.
In their short time at Father Joe’s Villages, their family began to rebuild their lives together.
Therapeutic childcare helped her seven-year-old daughter and six-year-old son catch up on school, including reading and math. Her youngest children, a four-year-old and an infant, were enrolled in child care, which allowed Rosa and her partner to meet with case workers and work on everything they needed to transition out of homelessness, including finding a job and healthcare.
Today, Rosa’s family is about to move into a home of their own through our Rapid Rehousing Program. She’s one of hundreds of people who have been able to transition out of life on the streets this year. Next year, her family will be celebrating Christmas in a home of their own.
However, funding cuts threaten to keep hundreds of families from following a journey like Rosa’s family by reducing or even ending the programs that they have relied upon to rebuild their lives.
As this holiday season comes to an end, we look towards a year where the very support providers across our region depend upon for vital, life-saving programs are threatened by budget cuts and program requirements. The federal Department of Housing and Urban Development recently paused applications for funding through its Continuums of Care program, which funds services like permanent supportive housing, rapid rehousing and transitional housing, all programs that keep some of our most vulnerable neighbors housed.
We do not know when HUD will reopen its applications, despite a recent court order. A potential impact for San Diego social services could be the loss of millions of dollars in 2026.
Should our representatives and senators fail to extend tax credits for the Affordable Care Act, many of our housed neighbors will be forced to choose between paying for their healthcare or their rent. The full impact of these and other funding cuts remains uncertain.
What we do know is that these and other threatened cuts leave providers and thousands of people experiencing homelessness, including families like Rosa’s, in limbo. Even a temporary gap in funding, as we experienced when SNAP benefits were paused during the government shutdown, forces providers to grapple with difficult choices like whether to turn people away or even shutter programs.
As uncertain as this year has been, our neighbors have recognized these great challenges and stepped up. When SNAP benefits were paused, many of you donated and gave your time at our food pantry to ensure no one would need to go hungry throughout the shutdown. You raised $600,000 at this year’s Thanksgiving Day 5K, funds that will support vital food programs across Father Joe’s Villages.
But the need is still great. We now face a $3.6 million funding gap to keep vital services available. Though our donors, including Irwin Jacobs who has generously offered a matching campaign, are helping us close this gap, we still have much to raise before the year ends to ensure that we are able to continue supporting our existing programs, whether that be our Therapeutic Childcare Center, meal programs, health clinic, sober-living shelter, detox center or employment and education services.
If you are able, we welcome any contribution you can give. Your support helps ensure that we are less dependent on funding streams that may decrease, or even disappear, as the political winds change. Above all, your support continues to ensure that we are able to truly give Rosa, her children and other families just like them the stability and hope they need to work towards ending their homelessness for good no matter what they may need to thrive.
We thank each and every one of you for your gifts, whether they’re monetary, your time or prayers and well-wishes. Rosa and her family, as well as hundreds of individuals and families today, are a step closer to stability and a Christmas in their own home, and it’s because of you.
We wish you and yours blessed and wonderful holidays. We are fortunate to have you with us.
Deacon Jim Vargas is president and CEO of Father Joe’s Villages.
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