Almost seven out of 10 homeless persons in the city of Chicago are Black

Almost seven out of 10 homeless persons in the city of Chicago are Black. They are either living under someone else’s roof, temporarily staying at a shelter or living on the streets.However, experts say that it is no coincidence that, despite comprising nearly 30% of the total population, Black people are overrepresented among the city’s unhoused population.The “epidemic” of Black homelessness in Chicago echoes back to the discriminatory policies that were in place when hundreds of thousands of African Americans headed north to the city during the Great Migration, which occurred over 50 years during the 20th Century.Restrictive covenants prevented Blacks from moving to different parts of the city, so they were often constrained to substandard housing. Due to redlining, many were denied bank loans and insurance to purchase homes in their own communities.The lack of access to affordable housing was so pronounced that even Martin Luther King, Jr., near the end of his life, helped lead the Chicago Freedom Movement, which inspired the Fair Housing Act of 1968.Despite the passage of this landmark piece of legislation, which was to theoretically allow people of color the ability to live wherever they pleased, segregation has done the work that restrictive covenants...