Congressman Jesús “Chuy” García Discusses the Impact of Homelessness in Chicago

Washington, DC- Yesterday, the Committee on Financial Services convened the hearing entitled, "Homelessness in America: Examining the Crisis and Solutions to End Homelessness."

According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Annual Homeless Assessment Report, there were 552,830 people experiencing homelessness in the United States on a single night in 2018. Racial minorities are disproportionately represented among people experiencing homelessness in 2018.

During the hearing, Congressman García asked one of the witnesses, Nan Roman, President and CEO of the National Alliance to End Homelessness to explain the growing trend of Latinos disproportionately experiencing homelessness.

"While Latinos make up 18 percent of the nation's population, they comprise 25 percent of people experiencing homelessness," said Congressman García.

Congressman García also stressed the need for accurate data, noting differences among government agencies' definitions for homelessness.

The Chicago Coalition for the Homeless estimated that 80% of those experiencing homelessness were doubled up, which means that the HUD estimates are missing a huge number of people. Over 64,000 people in Chicago are estimated to be doubled up, and there are huge disparities among this category of people as well (55% Black, 33% Latino).

Click here to watch the full remarks.

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