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African American women face challenges

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Homelessness in Los Angeles, particularly Downtown Skid Row, is growing at a high rate, especially for women.

The Downtown Women’s Action Coalition (DWAC) last year, conducted a needs assessment of the state of women on Skid Row, and after surveying more than 300 women the report found some critical factors: there were high levels of violence against women, and lack of affordable housing is rampant.

The women of Skid Row deal with domestic violence and sexual assaults frequently. According to the research, 60.9 percent of women reported that they had experienced domestic violence, and 50 percent said they had experienced a sexual assault.

Additionally, 31.5 percent said they felt pressured to perform sexual acts in exchange for basic needs, food and housing.

Most women living in the Skid Row community cannot afford housing. In fact, 73.1 percent listed housing as the most needed resource, and about 36 percent of the women in the study depend on shelters for housing.

Beyond housing, the assessment found that 41.7 percent of the women surveyed could not access clean, safe bathrooms and showers.

African American women make up 57.43 percent of the Skid Row population; of that, 16.28 percent of are from South Los Angeles.

Black women also represent the majority of women in shelters, at 60.7 percent and a significant percent sleeping on the street at 40.6 percent.

The report also noted that there is a disproportionate number of women of color existing on Skid Row and that the median age continues to rise. In fact the number of Latina women continue to climb with 6.5 percent coming from Mexico and another 4.6 percent coming from other Latin countries. Latinas reported sleeping on the street 32.7 percent more than any other client group in the study, 23.6 percent.

Finally, the survey noted that structural racism and discrimination in housing access, education, wages and employment, particularly has a long-term impact on African American and Latina women.

The CEO of the Downtown Women’s Center, Lisa Watson says, “These startling numbers highlight the high levels of need for impactful services addressing conditions that prevail among women in Skid Row.”

Becky Dennison, co-executive director of the Los Angeles Community Action Network (LA CAN) and member of the report’s review committee, adds that the report “paints a comprehensive picture of the strengths of homeless and extremely low-income women in downtown Los Angeles, yet at the same time the incredible challenges they face.”

In an effort to address the ongoing problems, the DWAC followed up the report with a public panel discussing solutions to issues related to violence against women, housing, health, public sanitation and the criminalization of poverty in the skid row community.

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