Opportunity Starts at Home: Immigrant Rights
Click here to read the one-pager
Immigrants, Housing, and Homelessness
Immigrant families face severe economic challenges specifically, barriers to many stabilizing systems including housing, employment, education, shelter, and various safety net programs such as rental assistance which puts them at elevated risk of housing insecurity and homelessness. COVID-19 has heightened existing challenges for low-income immigrant families forcing them to the streets.
Immigrant families face a range of systemic barriers to economic and housing security:
- In December 2020, more than 1 in 5 low-income, immigrant families reported that paying rent, mortgage or utility bill was a significant concern.1
- More than 100,000 undocumented Coloradans, disproportionately Latino adults, are part of Colorado’s labor force, many making the state minimum wage of $12.56/ hr.2 Meanwhile, the state housing wage for a modest two-bedroom rental is $27.50, well over twice minimum wage income.3
- Undocumented immigrants are barred from many types of government assistance like unemployment benefits, SNAP, and Medicaid.4 In Colorado, they may qualify for state rent assistance programs regardless of status but that adds up to a fraction of what unemployment benefits would provide.
- Even though the Federal Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) is available regardless of immigration status, nearly 1 in 10 adults in low-income immigrant families reported avoiding ERA due to concerns such as language and cultural barriers, lack of awareness, and above all, fear of deportation.5
Alejandra Chacon arrived at the Westside Mobile Home Park in Colorado from Mexico around 17 years ago with her parents. At 16, she was working to support her parents who worked multiple jobs. Growing up, hers and other Latinx families at the park, lived in trailers that needed repair and had several sewer line issues. When the park was sold to new private owners, they faced the burden of increased rent despite no improvements to the property.
Today, Alejandra is a housing advocate and community organizer. She explains that things have only gotten worse for immigrant families. “Rents in Durango are increasing—around $2,500 for a two-bedroom apartment. A lot of folks in the community work as housekeepers, construction workers, and restaurant workers.” Alejandra was working non-stop during COVID, experiencing significant back pain and depression while continuing to provide for her six-year-old daughter. Like her, many in her community are single mothers whose husbands have been deported.
Moving Forward:
Without adequate housing options, employment opportunities, and safety net programs, Colorado’s immigrant families are vulnerable to housing insecurity. Policy solutions may include:
- Developing housing affordable to individuals and families with limited income and assets;
- Improving Colorado’s and the nation’s aging public housing stock;
- Funding universal housing vouchers so all eligible households can access subsidies;
- Expanding access to public benefits, including housing subsidies, to immigrants regardless of immigration status;
- Improving protections for renters and mobile home park residents, including immigrants; and
- Investing in programming that is culturally responsive.
Immigration and citizenship status should not prevent individuals and families from accessing safe and stable housing. Long Standing barriers to housing can be addressed through inclusive housing policy.
About Opportunity Starts at Home: Colorado
From better health to food security to good education, housing is foundational to every aspect of well-being, building stronger communities, promoting economic growth, and providing opportunities for everyone to thrive. Our Colorado-based, multi-sector coalition is working in coordination with the National Low-Income Housing Coalition to generate widespread support for local, state, and federal policies that correct long-standing racial inequities and economic injustices that have prevented access to affordable, quality housing for people with low incomes