WTTW: What Homelessness Among Latinos Looks Like Amid Growing Need for Housing

By Acacia Hernandez (WTTW), December 1, 2023

Research suggests that Latinos are dramatically underrepresented in data on street and shelter homelessness.

According to the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless’ recent report, which just became available in Spanish, an estimated 68,000 people are homeless in Chicago.

Meanwhile, 91% of Latino Chicagoans who are experiencing homelessness are expected to be in doubled-up situations.

“People experience homelessness in different ways. They could be at shelters on the street or doubled-up, which some people consider couch surfing,” said Arturo Hernandez, a senior attorney with the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless. “This is when someone is staying at someone’s house where they have no legal right to be at and they can be asked to leave at any time. So they don’t have their own house, their own apartment, they might be staying with a relative or a friend, but they don’t have the right to be there.”

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Learn about our recent victories in our 2021 Annual Report

CCH grassroots leaders and staff, clad in bright yellow CCH t-shirts, standing with fists raised in front of the Illinois state capitol building. Text includes the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless logo and the words 2021 Annual Report.

We are grateful for the strong coalition of people with lived experience, community members, direct-service and advocacy organizations, institutional partners, donors, and volunteers who are working every single day to prevent and end homelessness.

Five blocks in a row. Block 1: Photo of a young woman wearing a hijab, standing, speaking to a Black woman in a trucker hat, seated. Block 2: Blue square that reads: 3,000 people who experienced homelessness were reached by our community organizers and legal aid attorneys. Block 3: photo of a white man speaking to a crowd with a bullhorn. The man is wearing a yellow t-shirt with the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless logo. Block 4: Blue square that reads: 408 legal aid cases were closed by the Law Project, representing 319 clients. Block 5: two young women with brown hair from behind, seated in front of a laptop.

Strong community support contributed to CCH’s many accomplishments over the last year. Read more about our shared victories during Calendar Year 2021 in our annual report.

Blue box with white letters: Read our annual report now