Missing home

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Missing home: Immigrants and homelessness 



 

It seems that upon arriving in the United States, I notice that most homeless individuals are native born Americans. Surely, there’s a population of homeless immigrants, right? I told myself. Upon reading Homelessness among immigrants in the United States: rates, correlates, and differences compared with native-born adults. I discovered that there’s no noteworthy difference between foreign-born adults and native-born adults (1.0% vs 1.7%). However, the study shows that native-born adults are more likely to be exposed to behavioral mental illnesses than foreign-born adults. Interestingly, the longer an immigrant stays in the United States, the more likely they are to be homeless.

 

“It can take an immigrant between 10 to 20 years to adjust to the culture and life in the United States.”

 

-       A Broken Dream: Homeless & immigrants 

 

There are many obstacles that immigrants face. Access to shelters, barriers in language and culture and religion, are among things. The United States are known for being a nation of immigrants, still many faces great challenges upon arriving in the country, the things that I listed above are just a select few, discrimination is also a contributing factor. As a context. I’m an immigrant myself. I suffered from mental health during my stay here in the United States, especially during the rise of pandemic. As such, I definitely resonate with these challenges.with that said. There has been a sudden rise of homeless immigrants due to the economic failure, the pandemic brought. 

 

“I never thought I would end up like this, like I am today,” he said in Spanish, his eyes filling up with tears.

 

-       Said by a 55 Mexican immigrant, who lost their home during the pandemic. 

 

Welcoming America is a non-profit organization centering around the concept of belonging, their mission is to ensure everyone that they belong, including immigrants. They conducted a webinar about Access to Housing, Disaster Relief, and Homelessness Assistance Programs for Immigrants. It’s a great video to learn about different policies and programs and I recommend watching to learn more.

 

You can also read the resources above for further information regarding this issue. 

 

https://digitalcommons.law.seattleu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1009&context=hrap

https://welcomingamerica.org

https://socialinnovation.usc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Jack-Tsai-Homelessness-among-immigrants-in-the-United-States-Rates.pdf

https://nche.ed.gov/immigrants-and-refugees/

 

Posted by Leeahnn Victorio

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