Hidden Hispanic Homelessness in Los Angeles: The “Latino Paradox” Revisited

Abstract

The authors exploit a unique sample of Mexican-born persons in Los Angeles to investigate whether the apparent dearth of Hispanic homeless (the “Latino paradox”) can be explained as a methodological bias. They test two hypotheses: (Hypothesis 1) there will be no significant difference between the homeless rate (HR) for this sample compared to Los Angeles County and (Hypothesis 2) Mexican-born homeless persons are as likely as others to sleep in nontraditional settings. Rejecting both hypotheses, we find that the HR for this sample is nearly 7 times greater than for the entire county and that Mexican-born homeless are more likely to sleep in nontraditional settings. The authors conclude that Mexican-born homeless may be systematically undercounted in homeless samples because they are more likely to exist outside traditional homeless spaces.