Our analysis strongly suggests that the mass incarceration of Black residents is a major driver of Black homelessness. Incarceration has a disproportionate impact. Our analysis indicates that, among those incarcerated, white residents do not become more vulnerable to homelessness, while the risk to Black residents increases substantially. These differences reflect how the impact of structural racism differentially shapes the experiences of Black and white individuals with criminal records.
Featured voices:
“My name is Jason Harris. I was born in Harvey. I’m 23.”
“Me and my dad, we was staying up in my grandmother's house. When she had to pay the rent, they'd give her extended time because of her skin color. My dad, he's kind of dark. When they saw him living there, they like, ‘Nah, we need the money now. You ain't got it, you gotta go.’ We weren't able to pay, they shut the lights off, shut the water off. After that, I told my dad, ‘I'm dragging you down, man. I can't, I can't live here with you. I can help you out, let me get on my feet and I'll help you out.’”
“I put in for Dunkin Donuts, I put in for hotels, McDonald's, everything. They told me no, I tried Amazon, everybody told me no. Then that's when it was like, you know what?...That's why a lot of black people nowadays selling drugs, you know, because they can't get a job. So I was at that point......I got caught for all that yeah, did my time for all that, yea. But it wasn't worth it.”
“And then you go to jail, it's hard to get that off your background.”
Read the full report here. https://ow.ly/J3Oz50TepXW
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