Homeless People of Color

Why are people of color are more likely to be homeless? Read here to find out why there is a disparity between people of color and White Americans.

Individuals of racial minority groups are more likely to be homeless. Indigenous and African Americans are especially at risk. This disparity can be attributed to the fact that there is systematic discrimination til this day against racial minority groups.

"The most striking disparity can be found among African Americans, who represent 13 percent of the general population but account for 39 percent of people experiencing homelessness and more than 50 percent of homeless families with children. This imbalance has not improved over time." - endhomeless.org

There are several reasons why racial minority groups experience homelessness at higher rates as compared to White Americans and Asian Americans. One such reason is proverty. African Americans, the Latinx community, and Indigenous people are notoriously known for suffering with higher proverty rates. As Statista.com states, African Americans have a 19.5% proverty rate and Hispanic Americans have a 17% proverty rate. This gap is drastic compared to the overall 11.4% proverty rate for all races. The difference in proverty rates can explain why African Americans and Latino Americans are more likely to become homeless. With a lower income, finding affordable housing is more difficult. Furthermore, paying for everyday necessities, such as food and clothing become harder with each passing day. With these factors taken into consideration, impoverished individuals are more likely to become homeless. This concept is one reason that explains the disparity between people of color and White Americans amoung the homeless.

Another reason that people of color are more likely to be homeless, is the racial discrimination in the hiring process.

"Researchers sent more than 80,000 fake job applications for entry-level openings to Fortune 500 firms and found that, on average, applications with distinctively Black names were about 10% less likely to get a call back than comparable applications with distinctively white names." -marketplace.org

Racial discrimination still exists within the hiring process, as evident by this study. However, there is a flip side to this situation, as some companies hire black individuals intentionally to meet quota standards set by the government. On the surface, this quota standard may seem like the right path to eliminating discrimination, but it has some downsides as well. An individual of color may become tokenize in his/her work environment and face discrimination for being one of few individuals of color in his/her workplace. As a result, he/she will be more likely to quit, since an individual of a different race may be indirectly or directly racist to the individual of color without human resources successfully stepping in. The individual of color may also feel alienated by simply being the only person of color possibly in the office. Their alienation may lead to him/her being fired or quitting as a result, since he/she feels alone in his/her workplace.

Lastly, unfortunately, there may be few applicants ot color for professional jobs that pay well.The company may hire the individual of color who is still mostly qualified to meet quota standards. This dilema may seem like a positive on the surface, but if the individual was not as qualified as let's say a more qualified White individual, he/she may face discrimination for being "subpar" as compared to the person who previously held the position. Not only will this cause the person of color to be more likely to quit, but it will taint the image of the adequency of people of color in the workplace. I know this from experience, since I am 100% white, and my family says racist comments about people of color receiving the job that he/she wanted and felt he/she were not as qualified. Whether this be the case or not, this idea still exists and contributes to systematic racism towards people of color.

These are just of few reasons why people of color experience higher proverty rates and difficulty in getting a job, as there are many more, but this analysis gives a picture of what it means to be of color and trying to get a job. These factors contribute to the higher rates of homeless amoung people of color. Overall, people of color face racial discrimination, which makes it more difficult to achieve permanent shelter and provide for their families.