Hmong Shut Out of Housing Market
A comment was made to the effect that “though the Hmong have a high profile at Chapman School and at Community Park, that if you look at the census data you will see that they do not actually live here.”
The comment bothered me for two reasons:
1. I have had the distinct pleasure of walking home from watching the fireworks on the 4th of July literally awash in a churning sea of excited Hmong kids and parents pushing baby strollers. I had the distinct feeling that they were not walking to their cars to then drive home – but that they were walking home which was near – and not where I knew Asian families to already be living. I was impressed to think – in other words – that there were more Hmong living in Chapmantown than I had imagined.
2. A few months ago I suggested that we cooperatively organize to assist Hmong families placement into the Habitat for Humanity Project on 16th Street (about 12 new homes being built on one parcel). The suggestion has not been greeted with much enthusiasm for a variety of reasons.
So with these burning questions in mind I went to www.census.gov to find some clarity. What I found was the opposite.
There are more Hmong in the Chapman/Mulberry neighborhoods per square block than any other TRACT in Butte County! (download xls census data here)
Low and behold, census data indicate that there are only two Hmong owner-occupied homes in TRACT 13 (basicly Chapman/Mulberry neighborhoods).
Soooo. - - if you are looking only at who owns homes in Chapman/Mulberry to discern who lives here - - the Hmong evidently do - - but just barely.
Slimy insipid issues simmer (not too) sublimely here.
The national average for people living in owner-occupied residences is 68.7 percent. The national average for Hmong is 44.6 percent. Measured against American Indian, Black/AfricanAmerican, Hispanic or Latino – Hmong is the lowest.
The country is divided into 4 regions. Of the 4 regions the West Region has a the lowest rate of owner-occupied residences for Hmong – about half the national Hmong average and less than 1/3rd of the combined national average – a paltry 22.9 %.
Within that Region the State of California's figures fall to 19.3%
Butte County then falls another 5 + percentage points to 16.2.
Our beloved Chapman/Mulberry, “TRACT 13” freefalls to a paltry 5.1%.
So: to recap: Percentages of People living in Owner-resident homes.
68.7% - National Combined Average
44.6% - National Hmong Average
22.9% - West Region Hmong Average
19.3% - California Hmong Average
16.2% - Butte County Hmong Average
5.1% - TRACT 13 – Chapman/Mulberry neighborhoods
There are over 167,386 Hmong in the US. One in every 770 of them live in TRACT 13 of Butte County California. The Hmong have lived here for 2 decades. Such skewed results are not generally reflected in the other parts of the nation. Something is significantly wrong here and it gets worse the closer you come to Chapmantown.
Over 1/3rd of all US Hmong live in California. Butte County is home to about 4.5 % of these (2,895) and over a third of Butte County Hmong live within the Chico Urban Area (1114). The Chico Tract with the most Hmong is TRACT 13, with 245 reported. Of those 245 – 235 live in rentals. Ten live in owner occupied housing.
Two TRACTs in Oroville report higher total numbers, South Oroville and Thermalito with 723 and 649 respectively. But these Oroville TRACTs (29 &30) encompass 5 to 8 times the area that TRACT 13 does. Again: There are more Hmong in the Chapman/Mulberry neighborhoods per square block than any other TRACT in Butte County.
There is good news in the statistics too. For example: figure - to bring the numbers into closer line with national averages the 236 Hmong in TRACT 13 you divide that by 2.79 National Average of residents in Owner Occupied Homes = 84.58 drop the fraction = 84 times 44.6% which is the Hmong national average (I am not trying to look good here – just not so bad) = 36.9 something, then drop the fraction again and minus the two existing homes leaves you with a shortage of 34 homes needed.
But wait! I used the “national combined average for "average number of occupants in an owner occupied home”. Silly me!
The Hmong average is more than twice that! They live - on average - 6.28 people in an owner occupied home – and it seems to hang somewhere in that range regardless of what Region or the percentage of Hmong owner occupied homes.
So lets correct for that by taking our final 34 homes and timesing them by the 2.79 we originally factored in – to factor it out – and divide that by 6.28 - ops – on second thought the California Hmong average is 6.75 which is even better - so lets use that which means all we need is 14 more homes!!!
Hmong extended families and a couple pinches of arithmetic shortcuts and we have more than halved our work!!!
We can do this and still have our afternoons free!
So what have we accomplished when it is all done? (everything else remaining the same.) Assuming
we end with 16 total owner occupied homes
figuring conservatively 6 occupants/home
equals 96
Which is 40% owner occupancy housing
Which is still less than the Hmong national average, but
Which is more than twice the State Average
Which is 2.5 times the county average
And 8 fold better than what we started with here in Chapman/Mulberry.
I want to emphasis – doing this for any other identifiable cultural group would involve twice the work because it would involve twice the number of homes for the population. (OK – Hispanic would be a little lower –and that group needs some attention in this regard too but still!)
In planning community focus for outreach, grantwriting and community networking I believe these figures represent a flaming hot issue, one that TEAM Chapman and other community service organizations need to be aware of and address.
So anyone out there who would be interested in working on this issue put me on your list and I will put you on mine. Lets take care of this.
Thanks
posted by richardhroth at 11:55 PM
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