How Many Children and Youth Experience Homelessness?
How is Homelessness Defined?
Why Are Children and Youth Homeless?
How Does Homelessness Affect Children and Youth's Education?
What Educational Rights Do Homeless Children and Youth Have?
What Can I Do to Help?
How Many Children and Youth Experience Homelessness?
Final national numbers for the 2008-2009 school year have not yet been compiled by the U.S. Department of Education. According to the most recent federal data, in the 2008-2009 school year, 954,914 homeless children and youth were enrolled in public schools. This is a 20 percent increase from the 2007-2008 school year, and a 41% increase from the 2006-2007 school year. It is important to note that this number is not an estimate of the prevalence of child and youth homelessness; in fact, it is an underestimate, because not all school districts reported data to the U.S. Department of Education, and because the data collected represents only those children identified and enrolled in school. Finally, the number does not include all preschool-age children, or any infants and toddlers.
The economic downturn and foreclosure crisis have had a significant impact on homelessness: according to a national survey, one in five responding school districts reported having more homeless children in the Fall of 2008 than over the course of the entire 2007-2008 school year.
Recent research indicates that child homelessness may be more widespread than school data suggest. A study published in the August 2009 edition of the American Journal of Public Health found that 7 percent of fifth-graders and their families have experienced homelessness at some point in their lives, and that the occurrence is even higher - 11 percent - for African-American children and those from the poorest households. The study used a very narrow definition of homelessness, only including families living in shelters or on the streets. Yet even with this narrow definition, the study suggests that in a classroom of 28 fifth-graders, two students would have been homeless at some point in their lives.
How is Homelessness Defined?
The federal definition of homelessness used by all public schools in the United States includes children and youth who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence. This definition specifically includes children and youth living in shelters, transitional housing, cars, campgrounds, motels, and sharing the housing of others temporarily due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or similar reasons. This is the same definition of homelessness used by Head Start, special education, child nutrition, and other federal family and youth programs.
The education definition of homelessness reflects the reality of family and youth homelessness. Emergency shelters in urban and suburban areas cannot meet demand, turning away requests for shelter. Many shelters place eligibility restrictions on families and youth; for example, many shelters do not admit families with adolescent boys, or do not allow unaccompanied minors. Rural and suburban areas may not have shelters at all. Families and youth may not have enough money to stay at a motel, or they may leave their homes in crisis, fleeing to the first available location. Youth who are homeless without an adult may be afraid to enter an adult shelter.
As a result of the lack of shelter, most students in homeless situations share housing with others temporarily, or stay in motels or other short-term facilities. These situations are precarious, damaging, crowded, unstable, and often unsafe, leading to extraordinary rates of mobility. According to the most recent federal data, of the children and youth identified as homeless and enrolled in public schools in the 2007-2008 school year, only 22 percent lived in shelters. Sixty-five percent lived doubled-up with other family members or friends, 7 percent lived in motels, and the remainder lived in unsheltered locations.
Why Are Children and Youth Homeless?
Homelessness is a lack of permanent housing resulting from extreme poverty and/or unsafe or unstable living environments (e.g., conditions of domestic violence, child abuse and neglect, or natural or other disasters).
Two trends are largely responsible for the rise in family homelessness over the past several decades: a growing shortage of affordable rental housing and a simultaneous increase in severe poverty. The mean income of families experiencing homelessness is less than half the poverty line. There is a rising gap between income and housing costs for low-income individuals. For example, a full-time minimum wage worker cannot afford the fair market rent for housing in every county and state within the United States (see Out of Reach, by the National Low Income Housing Coalition).
Unaccompanied homeless youth include young people who have run away from or been thrown out of their home or been abandoned by their parents. The primary causes of homelessness among unaccompanied youth are physical and sexual abuse by a parent or guardian, neglect, parental substance abuse, and extreme family conflict. It is estimated that between 1.6 and 1.7 million youth run away or are forced to leave home each year.
How Does Homelessness Affect Children and Youth's Education?
In a life filled with uncertainty, loss, and deprivation, school is a place of safety, structure, and opportunity. Yet homeless children and youth face unique barriers to education. These barriers include being unable to meet enrollment requirements (including requirements to provide proof of residency and legal guardianship, and school and health records); high mobility resulting in lack of school stability and educational continuity; lack of transportation; lack of school supplies and clothing; and poor health, fatigue, and hunger. When these barriers are not addressed, homeless children and youth often are unable to attend, or even enroll in, school, which prevents them from obtaining the education that is both their legal right and their best hope of escaping poverty as adults.
What Educational Rights Do Homeless Children and Youth Have?
Subtitle VII-B of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (referred to as the McKinney-Vento Act) is a federal law designed to remove barriers to education created by homelessness, and thereby increase the enrollment, attendance, and success of children and youth experiencing homelessness. The McKinney-Vento Act was passed in 1987 and reauthorized as part of the No Child Left Behind Act in 2001. The McKinney-Vento Act requires that state and local educational agencies provide students experiencing homelessness with access to school and support for their attendance and success. Key provisions of the Act include:
Students who are homeless can remain in one school, even if their temporary living situation is located in another school district or attendance area, if that is in their best interest. Schools must provide transportation.
Children and youth who are homeless can enroll in school and begin attending immediately, even if they cannot produce normally required documents, such as birth certificates, proof of guardianship, immunization records, or proof of residency.
Every school district must designate a homeless liaison to ensure the McKinney-Vento Act is implemented in the district. Homeless liaisons have many critical responsibilities, including identification, enrollment, and collaboration with community agencies.
Every state must designate a state coordinator to ensure the McKinney-Vento Act is implemented in the state.
Both state coordinators and homeless liaisons must collaborate with other agencies serving homeless children, youth, and families to enhance educational attendance and success.
State departments of education and school districts must review and revise their policies and practices to eliminate barriers to the enrollment and retention in school of homeless children and youth.
The McKinney-Vento Act contains many other provisions designed to support the education of children and youth experiencing homelessness. It is a critical tool in any effort to help these students meet their educational goals. For a list of most frequently asked questions, please see our publications page. For additional awareness and training materials, including posters, please visit the National Center for Homeless Education.
What Can I Do to Help?
There are many ways to help children and youth experiencing homelessness:
Volunteer or donate locally. Every community is unique, so it is important to learn the needs that have been identified by your local school district and by community service providers. Every school district is required to designate homeless liaison who is responsible for coordinating services. You can contact your school district liaison by calling your school district, or you may contact your State Coordinator for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth (directory compiled by the National Center for Homeless Education). To find local homeless service providers in your community, please visit the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Continuum of Care page or the National Coalition for the Homeless' directories.
Advocate. Policy makers at the local, state, and national level need to know that their constituents care about homeless children and youth. Please consider engaging your policymakers in conversations about child and youth homelessness, and urging them to be part of solutions. For an update of federal policy issues related to the education of homeless children and youth, please see our legislative updates.
Join NAEHCY. Help NAEHCY to ensure that ALL children receive the best opportunities! Membership in the National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth (NAEHCY) is open to everyone with an interest in homeless education. Annual dues are $40.00, which includes regular communications and updates from NAEHCY professional staff. Dues help support our policy, advocacy, and outreach staff and projects. Members and their programs are highlighted in the BEAM, the association's newsletter, and on the website. Other initiatives are being developed that include access to subscriptions and discounts with partner agencies. Membership is good for one full year from the date payment is received.
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