Jewell Hillery and Andrew Smith

3 minutes ago

CHICAGO – Researchers from the University of Illinois joined Illinois Governor JB Pritzker on Thursday afternoon to release a report focused on the socioeconomic disparities that contribute to Black homelessness across the state.

For more than a year, searchers and state leaders working to end homelessness have partnered to get to the roots.

According to Pritzker, the project, called Black Homebeing in Illinois Structural Diversity of Inequality, is one of the first state-level assessments to look at the disparity and the first in the nation to be published in partnership with the state government.

To gather information, the Office to Prevent and End Homelessness convened a roundtable of experts on Black homelessness, including people who have experienced homelessness.

According to the report, Black residents in Illinois are nearly eight times more likely to experience homelessness than white residents.

The gap in Illinois is one of the worst in the country and double the national rate.

Pritzker said his administration is proposing a revenue increase to fight homelessness in Illinois.

“Last fiscal year, we invested $200 million in Home Illinois