Abstract
The Latino population has been steadily increasing in the District of Columbia, and the city's Latino population has many unique and important qualities that distinguish it from other racial and ethnic groups. This report describes the current state of the Latino population in the District of Columbia and paints a picture of the opportunities and challenges Latinos face today. In this report, we describe how Latinos are faring in three domains: population and demographics, housing and neighborhood change, and economics and the workforce. We use the most recent data available to compare Latinos with non-Latinos living in the District and to describe trends over time. To supplement the available data, this study also draws on qualitative findings from interviews with officials, community leaders, and service providers to determine how the national recession is affecting Latinos in the District of Columbia.
The text below is an excerpt from the complete document. Read the full report in PDF format.
Executive Summary
People of Hispanic or Latino origin are now the largest ethnic and racial minority in the United
States. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Latinos made up 15 percent of the U.S.
population in 2008. The Latino population has been steadily increasing in the District of
Columbia as well, and the city's Latino population has many unique and important qualities that
distinguish it from other racial and ethnic groups. This report attempts to describe the current
state of the Latino population in the District of Columbia and paint as complete a picture as
possible of the opportunities and challenges Latinos face today. Our hope is that this
information will be valuable to city agencies and nonprofit organizations that are working to
improve the status of Latinos in the nation's capital.
In this report, we describe how Latinos are faring in three domains: population and
demographics, housing and neighborhood change, and economics and the workforce. We use
the most recent data available to compare Latinos with non-Latinos living in the District and to
describe trends over time. To supplement the available data, this study also draws on
information and findings from one-on-one interviews with officials, community leaders, and
service providers conducted between August and October 2009.
The District's Latino population has been growing steadily since the 1980s, even as the
city's total population was declining. The increases in the number of Latinos living in the District
can be partially explained by more immigrants from Latin American countries settling in the
Washington region, but also by the more recent large growth in births to Latina mothers, who
have experienced the greatest increase compared with other racial/ethnic groups in the District.
Latinos living in the District are more likely to be immigrants than non-Latinos. Latino
immigrants in the city are predominantly from El Salvador, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic.
Latino households are more likely to consist of a married-couple family than non-Latino
households and include more children and extended relatives. These family structures are
consistent with the national characteristics of immigrant households.
The District's Latino population has historically lived in the northwest quadrant of the city,
primarily in Wards 1, 2, and 3, although in recent years, changes in the city's neighborhoods
and housing market have resulted in a shift in the areas where Latinos live. Most recently, the
Latino population has increased in Ward 4 along Ward 4's southern border and declined in
Wards 2 and 3. Few Latinos have ever lived east of the Anacostia River in Wards 7 and 8.
The District's housing boom, which started in 2001 and peaked in 2006, particularly
affected Latino neighborhoods. The number of home sales, driven by condominiums, increased
by 54 percent between 2001 and 2005 in neighborhoods where the majority of Latinos live,
greater than the citywide increase of 33 percent. The median price for condos similarly exploded
in Latino neighborhoods reaching $371,000, an increase of 130 percent between 2001 and
2005. Latino neighborhoods have also weathered the housing downturn better than non-Latino
neighborhoods, with fewer price declines than in many other parts of the city.
Despite the increase in homeownership that accompanied the housing boom, the vast
majority of Latinos rent, rather than own, their homes. The American Community Survey (2005–
2007) estimates for the District indicated that Latino-headed households had the highest rental
rate of any race or ethnic group, at 65 percent, compared with 55 percent of households headed
by African Americans and 38 percent of white-headed households.
Latino homeownership, while remaining small, did increase between 2000 and 2006,
even in some of the hottest market neighborhoods. While 31 percent of District Latino
households owned their home in 2000, that share increased to 35 percent by 2005–2007.
Citywide, the number of home purchase loans Latinos took out increased at a rate higher than
for African Americans or whites, and the share of home purchase loans that went to Latinos
went from 4 percent of all home purchase loans in 2000 to 10 percent by 2006, slightly higher
than the estimated share of Latinos living in the District (9 percent). It is worrisome, however,
that the share of high-cost loans to Latino borrowers was also greater than the rate for the
District as a whole. This suggests that Latinos may be more susceptible to losing their homes
through foreclosures, since many foreclosures have been associated with high-cost subprime
mortgages.
The housing boom in Latino neighborhoods has also disproportionately increased
Latino's rent burdens. By 2005–2007, almost half of all Latino renters spent more than 30
percent of their household income on rent, a level considered unaffordable by many housing
experts, surpassing the overall citywide share of 43 percent. Average rents between 2000 and
2005–2007 increased more for Latinos than for other racial/ethnic groups, possibly due to the
fact that Latinos tended to live in the neighborhoods experiencing the hottest housing boom.
As was the case for many during the District's housing boom, Latino's housing costs
have increased but their incomes have not kept pace. Latinos are most often employed in a few
low-paying occupations, such as construction, cleaning, and food services. Cleaning and food
service jobs, in particular, are among the lowest-paying occupations in the District. Two of the
greatest barriers for Latinos trying to gain higher-paid employment are relatively low education
levels and poor English proficiency. Almost one-third of District Latinos had less than a 9th grade
education, and another 11 percent had only a 9th to 12th grade education and did not graduate
high school. In comparison, almost one-quarter of African Americans had less than a high
school education and very few (6 percent) had less than a 9th grade education. And nearly onethird
(29 percent) of the District's Latinos age 16 and older did not speak English well or at all,
and 38 percent of foreign-born Latinos were not proficient in English either.
As a result of their low employment status, Latinos have been particularly vulnerable to
the current recession and have suffered substantial losses in employment, wages, and hours
worked as the recession has progressed. For this report, we interviewed several key Latino
stakeholders in the District, who gave us additional perspectives on the current status of the
city's Latinos, particularly during the ongoing recession. These key informants told us that there
has been a significant decline in employment among their clients in the service industries
between 2008 and 2009, particularly for construction, nanny, and cleaning jobs. Our informants
said that many Latinos were either working less or had lost their jobs and were having a harder
time finding new employment that paid as much or provided as many working hours as the jobs
they had before. One informant from a nonprofit that provides workforce training said that
construction jobs pay relatively well without requiring English proficiency, so non-Englishspeaking
Latinos often feel that they can live relatively comfortably without English skills, until
they lose their jobs. The lack of good English skills or other training makes finding new
employment in other fields very difficult for these workers.
Although Latino families rely on income from some of the lowest-paid jobs available,
Latino poverty rates remain relatively low. Almost one in five (19 percent) of all District
residents, regardless of race or ethnicity, lived below the federal poverty level in 2005–2007. For
Latinos in the District, the poverty rate was 15 percent. Latino households managed to stay
above the poverty line by having larger households with multiple wage earners (unemployment
among Latinos remained low until the recession hit). In addition, many workers in Latino families
are making ends meet, particularly in light of the current recession, by holding multiple jobs
simultaneously. A prominent community advocate we spoke to said, "A lot of workers that work
two or three part-time jobs to maintain a full-time schedule still do not make enough money to
make ends meet. They are working but are living over capacity and no one in the house is
making enough to really feel above water."
Many nonprofit service providers are struggling to meet the increasing needs of the
unemployed and out-of-work Latino population. Several providers of basic health and social
services and employment assistance in the District cited a steep increase over the past year in
the need for medical assistance, food supplies, legal services, job services, and even clothes
and toys for children. Our key informants emphasized the need for more comprehensive
employment and training programs, designed to address the economic situation and the
multiple barriers to advancement that many of the District's low-income Latinos face.
To better meet Latinos' financial and occupational needs, particularly in light of the
recession, the key informants we spoke to suggested the following strategies be implemented:
- Examine opportunities for increasing incumbent worker training for workers with multiple
barriers, including English language learners, low-skilled workers, and workers with low
education.
- Explore ways of supporting existing Latino service providers to help them cope with
increasing numbers of clients since the recession.
- Explore ways that federal stimulus or other funds can be used to help Latinos move into
new growth sectors and careers.
- Expand the availability of "know your rights" classes, information on employment rights,
and public services for workers whose rights may have been violated.
- Encourage greater collaboration and closer coordination of employment services
between Latino-serving community-based organizations, employers, and the public
employment system.
(End of excerpt. The full report is available in PDF format.)
Additional Reading
UI's Children of Immigrants Data tool
State of Washington DC?s Neighborhoods
Latest Research
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