Sacramento’s Native Americans are 6 times more likely to face homelessness, report says
Native Americans and Alaska Natives are five to six times more likely to find themselves homeless in Sacramento, a new report found.
That statistic, determined as part of a federally-mandated homeless count performed in January, mirrors national and state trends.
While Native Americans and Alaska Natives make up only 1.5% of the United States population, they experience a homeless rate of 10%, the second highest out of any ethnic group nationwide, according to the National League of Cities.
The policy-driven historic displacement of Native people from tribal lands still contributes to the high homelessness rate, a report from University of Southern California stated. These policies include the Indian Removal Act, the Indian Relocation Act of 1956 and the Boarding School era, which was when Native children were forcibly abducted by the United States government agencies and sent to boarding schools from 1819 to 1969.
The Indian Relocation Act of 1956 encouraged and forced Native people to leave reservations and assimilate into urban areas. It wasn’t uncommon for Native people to leave their tribal communities with no financial support, and to be placed in overcrowded housing units with unsanitary living conditions. Today, Native communities still struggle with disproportionate rates of health disparities and socio-economic inequities because of these policies, according to the USC report.
Claradina Soto, an associate professor of population and public health sciences at USC’s Keck School of Medicine, said the new Sacramento statistic was very concerning.
Native communities face systematic bias and discrimination when looking for housing, or even employment opportunities, which is prevalent in many urban areas in California, Soto said.
About 88% of Native Americans in California live in urban areas, like Sacramento, according to the California Consortium for Urban Indian Health.
For Native individuals migrating to urban areas from reservations for employment opportunities, they lack family and a sense of community, said Soto.
Native Americans are also over represented in the homeless death data. In 2022, of the 250 homeless people who died in Sacramento, six were Native American, according to coroner data.
Soto, who is Navajo and Jemez Pueblo, said a possible solution could be supplying housing referrals to Native residents. There also needs to be more employment opportunities, access to food pantries and resources going into Native communities. But it boils down to visibility and relationship building with Native communities, she added.
“There’s so many disparities that exist and inequities that need to be addressed, and this is just one of them,” Soto said. “We need to try and support (Native communities), understand housing shortages and the poor living conditions our communities are living in. The attention absolutely needs to be drawn.”
Soto called for more funding toward urban Native organizations, like agencies and clinics that directly serve Native communities who Native communities may be more willing to trust.
Additionally, Soto said there needs to be policy and advocacy to supply Native communities with more infrastructure to support themselves in Sacramento. Legislators need to be aware of Native communities are facing homelessness and take action, she said.
This story was originally published June 10, 2024 at 5:00 AM.
