CounterPunch Exclusives

CounterPunch Exclusives

Bad Affordable Housing Policy Contributes to the High Rate of Homelessness for Black Men

The policy brief, “Make Housing More Affordable,” part of CEPR’s Majority Agenda, points out that “federal housing policy directs too much funding to the wealthy and too little for everyone else.” For instance, most of the benefit of the mortgage interest deduction goes to households with incomes over $200,000, and this policy costs the government more than twice as much as the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit. Also, only a quarter of renters eligible for housing assistance receive it, and less than 10 percent of unhoused people are provided housing by homelessness programs.

Prioritizing the wealthy has contributed to a high rate of homelessness which disproportionately harms Black and Hispanic people.1 Although the Black population makes up 12 percent of the overall population, they made up 30 percent of the homeless population in 2024.2 The Hispanic population makes up 20 percent of the US population but made up 31 percent of the homeless.3

Men were homeless at a higher rate than women (27 versus 18 per 10,000) in 2024.4 Data by race and sex is not provided in the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Annual Homelessness Assessment Report (AHAR).5 Figure 2 shows a guesstimate made by applying the overall AHAR share of men in the homeless population to the........

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