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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