How Does Race Factor Into Homelessness?
Photo Credit: melita - stock.adobe.com While the United States is slowly becoming a multicultural nation, it has not yet become a so-called majority minority society. That is to say that people of color still do not comprise 50.1 percent or more of the population. It is true that, as of 2020, that non-Hispanic whites make up 50.1 percent of the homeless population, while making up 61.6 percent of the U.S. population. However, it cannot be denied that some demographics are overrepresented in this unfortunate cohort. This blog post will explore how race factors into homelessness, why that might be the case and how this might be counteracted. Does Race Play a Factor in Homelessness? Non-Hispanic whites, those of Asian descent and those of mixed ancestry are the only cohorts whose share of the national population exceed their share of the homeless population. Conversely, non-Hispanic black people make up 12.4 percent of the overall population, but 37.4 percent of th...