Barriers for Homeless Latinos

What is a city to do when they know homeless people are out there, but they are invisible? In Chicago, Latinos make up 28 percent of the city's homeless population, but only six percent seek support or services. How can Chicago advocates break through the cultural differences to address the fact that homelessness is disproportionately affecting the city's Latino community?

In Latino culture, doubling-up is a normal and acceptable living situation. So when a family falls on hard times, they are more likely to move in with family than seek help or services at a shelter, according to Chi Town Daily News:

Irene Cabello says one reason why Latinos don't go to homeless shelters or try to find social services is because they don't consider themselves homeless. She never thought of herself as homeless, even when she lost her apartment and had nowhere to go.

"I never even considered that I was homeless," says Cabello. "I was in my mid-50s and never thought it would happen to me."

Cabello says she did what most people in her culture do - she stayed with family, doubling or even tripling up in overcrowded houses and apartments.

That pattern helps explain the low percentage of Chicago's Latino population that is in the shelter and homeless prevention system, say community leaders. Latinos make up 28 percent of Chicago's population, but only six percent of Latinos seek social services because of homelessness.

Chicago homeless advocates know that homeless Latinos are out there: not only are more Latinos unemployed (11.4 percent compared to 7.9 percent whites) they are also more likely to spend a greater portion of their income on rent (Latinos under the poverty line spend an average of 59 percent of monthly income on rent).

Clearly, the Latino community is feeling the brunt of the economic downturn in Chicago. Yet, people are not seeking services. This silence, this hiding in the shadows, is concerning. It means that the struggles of the Latino community are going largely unnoticed.