The Sentinel

Black residents in Illinois are eight times more likely to be homeless

The state has earmarked $290 million for homeless services this year but advocates are asking for an additional $100 million for emergency housing, assistance and prevention programs.

Photo: Jon Tyson/Unsplash

by Judith Ruiz-Branch
Illinois News Connection

CHICAGO - Black residents in Illinois are almost eight times more likely to be homeless than white people, with lack of livable wages and affordable housing among the primary drivers.

Researchers from the University of Illinois Chicago said homelessness is an issue of equity with Blacks disproportionately represented across the state. Rent burdens and economic hardship are both driving factors. In 2022, about 63% of Black renters spent more than 30% of their paycheck on housing.

One in four Black residents is living in poverty in Illinois and one in seven is in deep poverty.

Chama St. Louis, director of organizing and network expansion at the National Black Worker Center, experienced homelessness in the winter of 2011. Even though she was working full-time, she said she could not afford to pay for housing and basic needs for her and her family.

"I felt like I was doing everything right," St. Louis recounted. "You can do everything right and still end up in a place where you don't have a home, because the system is failing us."

One in four Black residents is living in poverty in Illinois and one in seven is in deep poverty. St. Louis argued the Trump administration's dismantling of DEI efforts will only further compound matters.

The state has increased investment in programs such as Home Illinois to address the significant rise in homelessness. St. Louis pointed out even though she registered her and her family as homeless, many programs required her to travel based on the availability at shelters on any given day.

"When we had no gas, then we were sleeping in Walmart parking lots," St. Louis explained. "And on days it was really cold, I would take the kids inside of Walmart and make pallets for them at the bottom of a cart and push them around Walmart for seven hours until the sun came up."

St. Louis added she is now dedicated to helping others who experience homelessness. Along with advocating for improved conditions and wages for Black workers, she stressed she tries to humanize the crisis.

"Outside of the real work that we have to do around policy and making sure that people from a systemic standpoint are being treated fairly, we still have to make sure that we are human beings who care about one another and want to see each other do well," St. Louis emphasized.

The state has earmarked $290 million for homeless services this year but advocates are asking for an additional $100 million for emergency housing, assistance and prevention programs.

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Letter to the Editor |
Illinois bill HB2827 is anti-family

Dear Editor,

Another unnecessary anti-family bill is advancing in Springfield. The Homeschool Act (HB 2827) will impose fines and jail time on parents who don’t file a “Homeschool Declaration Form.” In other words, those that don’t register with their local district and provide their curriculum for the school to review will be punished, fined, and even serve jail time.

Many parents choose to homeschool in response to the mandates being passed into law in Springfield. For example: since 2019, students are now required to be proficient in LGBT history. In 2021, they passed a law that required sex ed be taught starting in kindergarten. Five-year-olds are taught to define what lesbians, homosexuals, and transgenders are, while the curriculum gradually gets more graphic in older grades. It’s some of the most sexually explicit material in the nation, supplied by Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion and sex-ed curriculum provider. Such curriculum is an invitation to early sexual activity.

Moreover, this bill allows a truancy officer to interview a child without a parent present for the purpose of launching an investigation.

The bill redefines homeschooling to a single family and prohibits 2 or more households from receiving instruction under a cooperative agreement.

One seriously flawed reason for this bill is to protect children from homeschooling parents “who don’t do it the right way.” As if the state does it better!

On average, homeschooled students score 15 to 25 percentile points above their public school counterparts on standardized tests. Black homeschooled students test scores are even higher - 23 to 42 percentile points higher than Black public school students!

The Illinois Report Card is the state’s official window into how students are testing in math, English Language Arts and Science. The 2024 numbers are nothing but shocking, as they have been for many years.

Only 31.1 percent of high school seniors met or exceeded proficiency in ELA while the graduation rate is at 88 percent. If more than two-thirds of students can’t read, why are they passing them to the next grade and then graduating them? Public schools are sending them into the world ill-equipped. The overwhelming majority can’t read! And our tax dollars are funding this ongoing disaster.

Math is even worse. Only 26.1 percent of high school students can do math at high school level.

They need to focus on the glaring problems in Illinois public schools and not the families who sacrifice to equip their children to become well-educated productive citizens.

I say, “Get them out of public schools and start homeschooling!” Homeschooled children are not the problem. They are the solution!

Urge your state lawmakers to reject HB 2827.

Kathy Valente, Director of Operations
Illinois Family Institute

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