| Special Essay Excerpts: State of Black Homelessness in America Written by: Mark Ridley-Thomas, PhD and Alisa Orduna, PhD In 2023, on a single night during the annual point in time count, 653,104 people were found to be experiencing homelessness in the United States which was 12% more than the year prior. This is the highest number of people experiencing homelessness since the national reporting on the Point-in-Time count began in 2007. Blacks have remained considerably overrepresented among the homeless population in most every US city despite being approximately 13% of the US population. Nearly 4 of every 10 individuals experiencing homelessness in the United States identified as Black, African American or African. Of the 243,624 Black people experiencing homelessness, 50% of them were members of families with children that will ultimately result in persistent generational disparities. Homelessness is a form of structural violence. To this point, as far back as 1967, in an address on the “Three Evils of Society”, Dr. Martin Luther King essentially condemned houselessness as cruel, indecent, unsafe and unsanitary. People are dying. There is an urgent need for proven strategies and solutions to move people quickly out of homelessness and prevent homelessness to begin with. This includes all hands on deck to address the entire continuum of housing– home ownership, affordable rent and tenant protections, unsheltered encampment resolutions, improving the interim housing quality and supply, and the creation of affordable permanent housing– and health. As we consider the intersection of systemic racism and structural violence, careful attention must be given to local governments’ response to the public outcry that often leads to legislation that criminalizes homelessness, contributing to the misplaced role of law enforcement agencies in addressing and often exasperating the homeless crisis engulfing Black communities across America. In this moment in history when Black mayors are leading the largest metropolitan cities it is our time to address the over representation of Black people experiencing homelessness in this country. To address homelessness in Black America we must dismantle its root cause of systemic racism and discrimination that influences economic stability, affordable housing, health, behavioral health, public safety and social support systems. This requires a collaborative, comprehensive, and intersectional approach that involves government agencies federal/state/local alignment, health and housing sectors, faith-based organizations, non-profit organizations, communities, and individuals. Housing is a basic human right. Housing is needed for our complete spiritual, emotional, physical, relational, and moral well-being. Now is our time to demand more. |
| Author Biographies Mark Ridley-Thomas, PhD is the Founder of the Empowerment Congress and serves as Senior Advisor for the Institute for Nonviolence in LA. Dr. Ridley-Thomas currently publishes PRAXIS—the interface between reflection and action—a weekly newsletter that focuses exclusively on homelessness and housing insecurity. Alisa Orduna, PhD is a twenty-five year veteran of public and nonprofit sector leadership dedicated to anti-Black racism and addressing racial reckoning. Dr. Orduna is a depth-psychologist researcher and writer who co-chairs the Empowerment Congress Homeless Working Group and leads homeless advocacy and group facilitation for the Institute for Non-violence in LA. |