Table 2.

How Is Race Related to Homelessness in Different Subpopulations?

Overall findings, homeless subgroup, study authors, study populations	Strength of evidencea
1. Arrest and incarceration histories appear to differ by race among homeless veterans, women, and youth, with non-white homeless individuals being more likely than white homeless individuals to report arrest or incarceration histories.  Hispanic incarcerated veterans were more likely to be chronically homeless than those in other ethnic groups (Tsai, Rosenheck, Kasprow, & McGuire, 2013 [n = 30,834]). Black homeless, mentally ill veterans had more felony arrests than white homeless, mentally ill veterans (Rosenheck et al., 1997 [n = 381]). Non-white youth more likely than white youth to be arrested for a more serious offense; white females more likely than non-white females to be arrested for a less serious offense (Yoder, Muñoz, Whitbeck, Hoyt, & McMorris, 2005 [n = 602]). White, black homeless women more likely to report histories of incarceration than Hispanic homeless women (Teruya et al., 2010 [n = 1,331]).	C
2. Self-reported satisfaction with health care has been associated with race in some homeless subgroups, not others.  Black homeless patients reported lower satisfaction with health care than white homeless patients (Macnee & McCabe, 2004 [n = 168]). No race-based differences found in expressed needs of women entering treatment for co-occurring disorders (Hohman & Loughran, 2013 [n = 237]). White homeless women more likely than black or Hispanic homeless women to report unmet health care needs (Teruya et al., 2010).	I
3. Black veterans found to be at greater risk of homelessness than white veterans, to more greatly benefit from caseworkers.  For male and female veterans, greatest predictors of homelessness and risk of homelessness were black race, unmarried status (Montgomery, Dichter, Thomasson, Fu, & Roberts, 2015 [n = 1,582,125]). Black veterans were placed in higher quality neighborhoods when provided with caseworkers and vouchers than vouchers alone, while the difference was not significant for white veterans (Patterson, Nochajski, & Wu, 2014 [n = 3,835]).	C
4. Among homeless youth, exposure to health risks and risk behaviors differ between minority and white groups.  Significant differences were found in social networks of black, white homeless youth. For white youth only, having heavy drinking peers was significantly associated with heavy drinking (Wenzel, Hsu, Zhou, & Tucker, 2012 [n = 235]). Black youth, LGBT youth, youth tested for HIV, were more likely to have engaged in "survival sex" than white, heterosexual youth, youth not tested for HIV (Walls & Bell, 2011 [n = 1,625]). Female gender and non-black race/ethnicity were associated with having intercourse without a barrier contraceptive method (Halcón & Lifson, 2004 [n = 203]). Among homeless youth, experiences of perceived discrimination were independently associated with increased emotional distress; foreign-born Hispanic youth reported highest levels of perceived discrimination (Milburn et al., 2010 [n = 254]).	I
5. Among IDUs, persons who are “on the street homeless” and non-white were found to have the highest rates of HIV.   (Smereck and Hockman, 1998 [n = 16,588])	C

^aA, good; B, fair; C, poor; I, inconclusive. Rating based on the number of study participants in each study, number of studies of geographically and demographically different populations reporting similar findings.