The Game Is Rigged: Black Americans Make Up 40% of the US Homeless Population

The 2019 annual Homeless Assessment Report (HAR) to Congress reported 568,000 homeless Americans, a 2.7% jump from the previous year. Of that, 39.8% of the homeless population are Black. That number increases to 52% when assessing homeless people with children.

Let me run that back. Of the 568,000 homeless Americans in this country,  225,735 are Black.

Black Americans, who make up approx. 13% of the entire US population (or 42 million according to the 2010 Census) are FORTY PERCENT of the total homeless population.

Now while your “friend” who claims they aren’t racist because you max-out-their-one-black-friend-quota might point to additional data highlighting 48% of the homeless population being white. Please remind their “All Lives Matter” ass that white Americans make up 72% of the population or 223,000,000 according to the 2010 census. This number includes 35 million Whites who identify as Hispanic because White Americans will find any way to cheat to preserve dominance. (Side bar: THIS has to be one of the most oxy-mornic headlines I’ve ever come across. Make it make sense! More diverse white people? Is that like seasoning your mayo with pepper instead of salt?) I digress…

The 2019 HAR stated that “African Americans have remained considerably overrepresented among the homeless population compared to the U.S. population…This report demonstrates continued progress toward ending homelessness, but also a need to re-calibrate policy to make future efforts more effective and aligned with the unique needs of different communities.”

This government speak translates into, “we realize we have a problem but the way America’s institutionalize racism is set up….”

We all know why Black Americans make up almost half of the homeless population. This country has a history of housing discrimination against Black Americans woven into its fabric (See: Slavery and Jim Crow). This is in addition to the injustices and inequality Black Americans face when it comes to accessing fair loan opportunities, decent healthcare to address our physical and mental health, access to quality and equitable pubic education, and combating a criminal justice system that preys on our communities. This country leaps over itself to find innovative ways to maintain oppressive policies while simultaneously questioning why Black Americans can’t pick ourselves up by our boot straps and make opportunities for ourselves like the white immigrants who came to this country by choice.

F. O. H.

Please, make no mistake. This is by design. This is the American Dream because Black Americans were never included in it.

Poverty is a strong indicator of homelessness and 21% of Black families in America live in poverty, which is nearly 2.5 times that of whites, according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness. The problem is only getting worse.

Incarceration can restrict access to employment opportunities and/or safe and affordable housing and Black Americans are incarcerated more than six times that of White Americans.

Black Americans, while making educational strides, still are half as likely to have a college degree than whites. This, compounded with Black Americans making on 82.5 cents on every dollar earned by White Americans, puts us at a disadvantage of being able to accumulate wealth, reducing housing insecurity.

Y’all president, President Pumpkin Spice, loves to tout that the Black unemployment rate is at its lowest ever (5.5%) thanks to his leadership. What he neglects to mention is that the number is almost still twice the number of White unemployment 3.5% and still the highest out of all races.

Black homeowner rates were at 40% in 2015 compared to 70% of White homeowners.

Racial inequality in American is the main culprit in restricting equal and fair access to the “American Dream. In order to address the disparity between the number of homeless Black Americans proportional to our total population, we must first tackle the disparity between the number of incarcerated Black Americans proportional to our total population, between access to equitable health care and education in our communities, access to fair and equitable financial institutions in our communities, the impacts of redlining, and all of the other factors designed to keep Black Americans tethered to second-class citizenship.

Keep in mind that we are in the midst of an election year. What are the remaining candidates positions on these issues? Or do these issues not play well in swing states where everyone is racing to court the white working class demographic. When is it going to be our turn? The answer: When we take it!

The staggering number of the Black homeless population, and the factors contributing to it, should be considered a crisis! A national emergency to address how 13% of a population can make up almost half of the homeless. Why isn’t this front and center?

Listen to 2Pac on the topic, discussing this country’s greed and wealth disparities and how it negatively impacts our communities. This is from almost 30 years ago and shit still hasn’t changed.

We, the 13%, need to hold these candidates accountable, and quickly, because whoever our next president is MUST address these issues head on. No stump speech. No empty promises. No more pandering. We need to see action if they want to see our vote. Especially considering “they” like to place the onus of winning or losing an election on the backs of Black Americans, still expecting us to carry the load of this country at no cost. When turnout is low, Black people are blamed, never fully acknowledging how disenfranchised Black Americans have been with having to constantly pinch our nose to pick the candidate least likely to reinstate slavery. We owe the Democratic and Republican Party NOTHING!

All the while, “Democratic” presidential nominee Michael Bloomberg is willing to spend $1 billion on his campaign, while hundreds of thousands of Black Americans sleep on the street, many sent there thanks to his disastrous “Stop and Frisk” policies as mayor of New York City. #BillionairesShouldntExist. I digress…

These are the issues we face and this should be a top priority of this country. Black Americans are (should be) fully aware that the President is the president of ALL people, not just Black people. We understand that it will take a coordinated effort on the local, state and federal level to address these issues. But what we can not continue to do is to allow our issues, and the elected officials obligated by duty to acknowledge and address them, to be ignored. We have the power of the people to elect those who speak to the heart of issues impacting our daily lives, which includes homelessness. We can not afford to wait our turn any longer.

Those 40% of Black homeless represent our Mothers and Fathers. Our Grandmother and Grandfathers. Our Aunties and Uncles. Our Sisters and Brothers. Our Sons and Daughters. Our Nieces and Nephews. Our Cousins and Friends. Many of us are one missed paycheck away from this reality. Like I said, this is by design.