Villanueva is president and CEO of City Heights Community Development Corp. and is a longtime resident of City Heights.

I have witnessed firsthand the negative and enduring impact of housing insecurity.

Some of my large family was displaced from City Heights in 1987 — among the roughly 2,000 residents evicted to make way for the 2.2-mile extension of the I-15 freeway, a move that destroyed community cohesion and accelerated disinvestment. This significant burden on our family, impacting many areas of our lives — including child care, finances and education — for years to come.