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#homeless #blackhistory
Homelessness in America is a national crisis. For the Black population, it is beyond a crisis.
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Homelessness in America is at a record
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high. Homelessness in the US hit a
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record level this year, jumping by more
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than 18% and rising even higher among
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families specifically. In America today,
0:11
across the country, a low-wage job is
0:14
homelessness waiting to happen. Let me
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give you a mind-blowing figure. Black
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Americans make up just 13% of the US
0:21
population, but almost 40% of the US
0:24
homeless population. I mean, at these
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numbers, it is an understatement to say
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black people are outrageously over
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represented in the homeless population.
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It would be something to be 13% of the
0:34
population and say 20% of the homeless
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population, but I mean 40%. Why this
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insane disparity and which cities have
0:43
the biggest black homeless population?
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That's what we're going to get into
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today. Hi, my name is Jared and I talk
0:48
about interesting stories and trends in
0:50
black culture because black culture is
0:52
just so interesting to me. If you share
0:54
my interest, hit that subscribe button
0:56
and let's deep dive into some
0:57
interesting black culture and history in
0:59
every episode. In 1863, the Emancipation
1:04
Proclamation liberated millions of
1:06
enslaved African-Americans. That act was
1:08
pretty much an event that created mass
1:10
black homelessness. The 40 acres in a
1:13
mule, oh, the 40 acres in a mule, we
1:16
were promised never materialized. Many
1:18
newly freed individuals found themselves
1:20
without shelter, congregating on the
1:23
fringes of Union Army camps and in
1:25
northern cities, seeking refuge and
1:28
opportunities. These makeshift
1:29
settlements were among the earliest
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instances of mass black homelessness in
1:34
the United States. The reconstruction
1:35
era held the promise of integrating
1:38
African-Americans into society as equal
1:41
citizens. Yet, southern states enacted
1:43
black codes, restrictive laws designated
1:46
to limit the freedoms of black
1:48
individuals. These codes curtailed
1:50
economic opportunities and often
1:53
criminalized unemployment, leading to
1:55
increased displacement and homelessness
1:57
amongst African-Americans. Actually,
2:00
black codes were used to put black
2:01
people, specifically black men, into a
2:04
form of slavery, but that's something
2:07
for another video. The great migration,
2:09
the movement of black people from the
2:11
South to the North, Midwest, and West,
2:13
an event we talked about in some of our
2:15
other videos on this channel, meant
2:18
better economic opportunities and also
2:20
different types of discrimination like
2:22
redlinining, which is another topic we
2:24
talked about a lot on this channel. You
2:26
know, that's the practice of
2:27
systematically excluding black families
2:30
from home ownership and access to equal
2:32
housing. So, when all of these things
2:34
add up, it creates a community that's
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economically far behind the general
2:38
population. How far behind, you might
2:40
ask? Go watch our video on why black
2:42
people are 13 times poorer in America.
2:46
Yes, 13 times poorer after you watch
2:48
this video, of course. And I'm going to
2:50
ask you for a quick favor. If you like
2:52
this video and you find it entertaining,
2:54
informative, interesting, anything
2:56
positive, now is the time to hit that
2:58
subscribe button to show us that you
3:00
find our content enjoyable or just me
3:03
enjoyable. We quickly looked at some
3:04
historical factors that have contributed
3:07
to the large homelessness crisis in the
3:09
black community, but what are the
3:11
numbers now? I can't overemphasize the
3:14
role the state of our economy has in the
3:16
general homelessness crisis. Housing has
3:18
become incredibly expensive with many
3:20
rental places requiring that you make
3:22
three or I've even heard in some areas
3:26
five times the rent on top of paying
3:28
double the deposit fee and the first and
3:31
last month's rent. And we all know how
3:33
insane the market has become to buy a
3:35
house. So imagine how easy it is to slip
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into homelessness if you lose your job
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and don't have a strong support system
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that will give you free housing. I mean,
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let's be honest. Most people that we
3:45
know probably are living close to
3:46
paycheck to paycheck, and they
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definitely don't have 3 to 6 months of
3:51
expenses and emergency savings to get
3:53
them by until landing their next job.
3:55
And as you might expect, there are some
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standout cities when it comes to
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homelessness in general, but black
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homelessness specifically. First, let's
4:03
look at some numbers on homelessness in
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America. According to HUD's 2023 annual
4:08
homelessness assessment report, 650,000
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people in America lack permanent
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shelters. That number reflected the most
4:16
number of homeless people since its
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report first published in 2007. And that
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number was also a 12% increase over
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2022. New York, Vermont, and Oregon had
4:26
the highest per capita rates of
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homelessness. I mean, with me living in
4:30
California and seeing homeless people
4:32
everywhere, I definitely thought that
4:34
California would come in the top three,
4:36
but I wasn't that far off because it was
4:40
at the number four spot. There are
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currently
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243,624 black homeless people in
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America. Let's look at some major cities
4:48
with a major homelessness crisis. New
4:51
York's homeless population reached an
4:53
unprecedented level this year with
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approximately
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120,513 individuals sleeping in shelters
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each night. Additionally, thousands more
5:03
were unsheltered or temporarily residing
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with others, bringing the estimated
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total to over 350,000 individuals
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experiencing homelessness in the city.
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Racial disparities are evident within
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this crisis. Among heads of households
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in shelters, approximately 56% are
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black. That's for a city with an overall
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black population of 23%. Over in the
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West Coast, Los Angeles County has a
5:29
homeless population of
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75,312 people, of which 34% are black,
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and the black population in LA is about
5:39
9%. Ridiculous. Chicago's homeless
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estimation was about 18,800 in 2024. Of
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those individuals, 45% were black.
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Chicago is 28% black. Seattle has a
5:53
homeless population of
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16,868 people. 15% of that population is
5:59
black, while only 7% of the county's
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overall population is black. In
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metropolitan Denver,
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14,281 people are experiencing
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homelessness. Black people make up only
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5% of the Denver metro population, but
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15% of the homeless population. And of
6:17
course, the next three spots take us
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back to California. San Diego, San Jose,
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and Oakland areas all have similar
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homelessness numbers, hovering around
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10,000 people. No matter how much I
6:29
look, I could not find any racial data
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for the homeless community in San Diego
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and San Jose. But in Oakland,
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52.5% of the homeless community is
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black. That's in a city that's 24%
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black. And that percentage was actually
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higher in 2022, showcasing 60% of the
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homeless population in Oakland was
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black. San Francisco is another city in
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California with a high percentage of
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black homelessness. There are around
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8,300 homeless individuals in the city
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of San Francisco. Black people make up
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only 6% of San Francisco, but 38% of the
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city's homeless population. And one last
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city, Phoenix, has a homeless population
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of
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9,435 people. Only 6% of the Phoenix
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metro is black, but 29% of the homeless
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population here is black. I mean, we
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have to ask ourselves, what is going to
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solve our homeless problem? I might not
7:24
be a sociologist, but I have a feeling
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three things would help a lot. We need
7:29
to make housing more affordable somehow.
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I don't know how it needs to be done.
7:33
Either build more houses, we need to do
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something. And number two, we need free
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preventative health care. Healthcare
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costs are the number one reason why most
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people go into bankruptcy in America.
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And under the umbrella of health care,
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at number three, we need more and better
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mental health resources. I mean, you
7:50
have to be honest, a lot of people are
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just one to two paychecks away from
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being temporarily homeless. And it's
7:57
sad, but I'll close out this video on
7:59
that depressing note. Thanks for
8:01
watching to the end. And if you want to
8:03
see more on this subject, my partner
8:05
went out and did an awesome documentary
8:07
on gentrification and homelessness in
8:10
California. I'll leave it in a link
8:11
below. and I'll see you in the next
#Discrimination & Identity Relations
#Poverty & Hunger
#Housing & Development