Texas Housers is thrilled to announce our new Executive Director, Quiana Fisher.
Our organization was founded 37 years ago with a mission to ensure that all low-income Texans are able to live in safe, decent and affordable housing. Now Quiana will lead our team in the next chapter of this urgent mission.
Quiana joins us following her previous role as Vice President of Homelessness Response System (HRS) Programs at Austin’s Ending Community Homelessness Coalition (ECHO). She brings additional extensive experience working with low-income households from her time at Texas Homeless Network, Caritas of Austin, and Foundation Communities, among others.
“I have spent the last several years of my career ensuring that people with lived experience of homelessness have the opportunity to provide insight into the services they receive and are thought partners in the system that is supposed to serve them. As I join Texas Housers, I do so with the vision that people closest to the problem are also closest to the solution,” Quiana shared. “Building and maintaining authentic relationships with directly impacted Texans will be essential in the next chapter for the organization.”
Growing up, Quiana and her siblings were loved and well cared for, but poverty, public assistance, and instability followed her family throughout her formative years in Austin, TX. She experienced firsthand ineffective, performative policies that did not address systematic racism or materially improve the lives of families like hers. This inspired her to pursue the path of what she called in her youth “a psychiatrist for poor people,” which her mother wisely identified as social work.
Quiana developed a racial equity framework and a commitment to improving systems on behalf of people who shared experiences like hers, first at historic Texas Southern University and later earning her MSW from the University of Houston.
“We’re excited to welcome Quiana on board as our new executive director,” said Texas Housers co-founder Karen Paup. “Quiana brings strong values, dedication, and enthusiasm to lead the next generation of Housers as we keep up our work for housing justice.”
For Quiana, racial equity work is personal. Ending the injustice of housing instability is urgent. Community organizing was the work of generations of her ancestors and she is determined to carry that wisdom forward.
“As Quiana steps into this role, she builds on the powerful legacy of John Henneberger and Karen Paup, whose decades of leadership shaped Texas Housers into a force for housing justice across the state,” said Shannon Van Zandt, Texas Housers’ Board president.
Our state is at a major pivot point. We see the many challenges before us, but also recognize that Texans are ready for bold change. Quiana joins Texas Housers at this critical time in our story to not just support the housing needs of low-income Texans, but help them reimagine what their future could be. And it starts by building power.
“It will be essential to utilize a variety of strategies, tools, coalitions, and partnerships to ensure that every Texan has safe and affordable housing,” Quiana shared, “and Texas Housers will continue to be the statewide leader in these efforts.”
It is a new chapter for Texas Housers. Let’s get to work to ensure that homes are affordable and fair for all Texans.
