From September 15 to October 15, NLIHC joins communities across the country in honoring National Hispanic Heritage Month–a time to celebrate the histories, cultures, and contributions of Hispanic or Latino people whose roots trace to Mexico, the Caribbean, Central and South America, and Spain. The observance began in 1968 as a week-long commemoration and was expanded to a full month in 1988. Its timing is intentional: September 15 marks the independence anniversaries of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua, followed by Mexico on September 16 and Chile on September 18. This year’s national theme, “Unidos, Somos Más” (“Together, We Are More”), reminds us that our collective power is greatest when we move together.
It is worth remembering that 1968, the year Hispanic Heritage Week was first established, was also the year Congress passed the “Fair Housing Act,” outlawing housing discrimination based on race, color, religion, and national origin. Hispanic and Latino communities have long been at the forefront of the fight for fair and just housing, organizing as tenants, workers, families, and neighbors against displacement, unsafe conditions, and exclusion. Their leadership, advocacy, and lived experience continue to strengthen the housing justice movement and NLIHC’s mission to ensure that people with the lowest incomes have safe, affordable homes in communities of their choice.
This month also shines a spotlight on the barriers that Hispanic or Latino households continue to face. NLIHC’s The Gap 2026 found that 13% of Hispanic or Latino households are extremely low-income renters, compared with just 6% of white households, and that only 35 affordable and available rental homes exist for every 100 extremely low-income renter households nationwide. According to Out of Reach 2026, the median wage of a full-time Hispanic or Latino worker is not enough to afford a modest one-bedroom apartment at fair market rent. The median wage for Hispanic or Latina women is $20.71 per hour, or $8.48 less than the $29.19 a full-time worker needs to earn to afford a modest one-bedroom apartment. In Puerto Rico, NLIHC’s analysis found a shortage of nearly 55,000 homes affordable and available to renters with the lowest incomes.
The 2025 National Renter Survey captures Hispanic or Latino renters’ experiences with housing-related issues such as moving, housing costs and assistance, and the safety and habitability of rental housing. Fifty-nine percent of Hispanic or Latino renters reported at least one habitability issue in their home over the last two years, and more than a quarter (26%) avoid asking their landlord for help, most often for fear that the landlord will raise the rent or charge them for the repair. Nearly one in three Hispanic or Latino renters who moved also had difficulty securing a home because of characteristics of their household, most commonly having low or no credit or having children.
These disparities are compounded by federal proposals that threaten the stability of Hispanic or Latino and immigrant families. In February, HUD proposed a rule that would force mixed-status families, households in which some members are eligible for assistance, and others are not, to choose between staying together and keeping their housing assistance. Under current rules, these families can live together while assistance covers only eligible members. An estimated 80,000 people, including 37,000 children, could lose their rental assistance if such changes take effect.
NLIHC submitted comments urging HUD to withdraw the rule and stands with the Keep Families Together campaign. And on August 10, HUD proposed eliminating its Title VI disparate impact regulations, a longstanding tool for addressing discrimination based on race, color, and national origin in federally assisted housing. Public comments are due October 9, right in the middle of Hispanic Heritage Month.
Unidos, somos más. Let this year’s celebration be more than recognition. Let it be a commitment to keep families together under one roof, defend the civil rights protections that make fair housing possible, center the voices of Hispanic or Latino tenants and community leaders, and fight for bold federal investments and for public housing until safe, accessible, and affordable homes are a reality for all.
¡Feliz Mes de la Herencia Hispana!