Infants and Toddlers Experiencing Homelessness

Prevalence & Access To Early Learning in Twenty States

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Progress and Promise

An Early Look at COVID Relief Funds for
Children and Youth Experiencing Homelessness

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Awareness and Training Resources

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Working Harder Just to Be Seen and Heard

Barriers to Financial Aid for Homeless
and Foster Youth During the Pandemic

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Immigrant and Migrant Students Experiencing Homelessness

Strategies for Supporting

State Laws on Vital Records

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SchoolHouse Connection is a national non-profit organization working to overcome homelessness through education. We provide strategic advocacy and practical assistance in partnership with early childhood programs, schools, institutions of higher education, service providers, families, and youth.

About SHC

The Issue

Child and youth homelessness is widespread and devastating – but hidden. Education can help break the cycle.

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NEW RESOURCES

Identifying Students Experiencing Homelessness

This resource provides strategies and considerations for liaisons to ensure students are identified as soon as possible, as well as a framework for liaisons to use after a student has been identified as experiencing homelessness.

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Progress and Promise: An Early Look at COVID Relief Funds for Children and Youth Experiencing Homelessness

This report from SchoolHouse Connection provides an early look at how some school districts across the country are using or planning to use their ARP-HCY funds to identify and serve students experiencing homelessness, as well as how state education agencies are using funds reserved for statewide activities. Based on early data, the number of school districts receiving funds for homeless students will increase more than six-fold. This means many schools that have never received specific support to respond to student homelessness will now be able to do so.

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Hidden Homelessness: Why Child, Youth, and Family Homelessness is a Crisis We Cannot Ignore

 

Through first-person storytelling, the series explores the ways in which homelessness is an equity issue that is inextricably connected to others; it is an experience that many vulnerable student groups face at disproportionate rates and intersects deeply with other national crises of mental health, academic achievement gaps, xenophobia, and the impacts of systemic racism.

 

Hidden Homelessness: Youth Voices is a sub-series developed by SchoolHouse Connection that highlights the often overlooked and unseen experiences that define child and youth homelessness. Under the education subtitle of federal law (the McKinney-Vento Act), the definition of homelessness includes common situations for families and youth experiencing homelessness, including living in cars, temporarily staying with others, and in “substandard housing.”

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Hidden Homelessness: Sheltered or Unsheltered, Homeless is Homeless.

When Eric was just nine years old, he was “living in a house that reeked of drugs, urine, and filled with trash. To make it worse, there was no running water, electricity, or gas.” Despite living in these traumatic and challenging conditions, he did everything he could to hide what was going on from his teachers at his school. He didn’t want to get reported to Child Protective Service, and be separated from his mom. Eric had a childhood that nobody should have to experience, yet so many do.

Today, Eric is in college, living in his own apartment, and working full-time. He has running water, electricity, gas, and food. Most importantly, Eric feels safe.

In his essay, Eric writes: “While I’m thankful for this new phase of life, I grieve for the younger me brushing his teeth in the gas station bathroom. That time of my life is over, but it still impacts me to this day. Looking back, I had various physical roofs over my head while I was experiencing homelessness, but the instability, lack of resources, trauma, and abuse I faced under those roofs at times made it worse than not having one at all.”

This is Eric's Story

Hidden Homelessness: “If I could characterize my experiences with homelessness in one word, it would be ‘unstable.’”

Throughout Brandon’s youth, he experienced homelessness while staying temporarily in hotels or motels and living temporarily with others. In his essay, Brandon looks back on these traumatic experiences of homelessness and the impact they had on his life. He writes: “Back then, I didn’t have nearly enough wisdom to put all these experiences into context…I internalized how I was feeling and didn’t seek help from outside sources… Without a healthy outlet to express my frustration, stress, and confusion, I was simultaneously experiencing some of the worst depression I’d ever had in my life, which affected my academic performance and made me feel like I was losing my ticket out of poverty.”

A SchoolHouse Connection scholarship changed his life and supported him in pursuing higher education. Brandon closes his piece writing: “If you or someone you know is a student struggling with homelessness, it’s important to reach out to your school to see what resources and support are available to you in your area. There are often people whose entire job is to find a way to help you get safe and stable housing. You don’t have to struggle with this alone.”

This is Brandon's Story

Hidden Homelessness: “This safe space gave me freedom and it unblocked my brain to dream again.”

Syerra is a SchoolHouse Connection Youth Scholar who experienced homelessness while staying temporarily with others and in “substandard housing.” Describing herself as a “survivor” throughout her essay, Syerra is on track to graduate with a bachelor’s degree and plans to purse a law degree in child advocacy.

In her essay, she writes: “These programs have given me hope. They allowed me to speak, to cry, and to let out all of the hurt and pain. This safe space gave me freedom and it unblocked my brain to dream again. They have helped me a lot and are a true example of the type of child advocate educator I want to be.”

This is Syerra's Story

Hidden Homelessness: Homeless With A Roof Over My Head

Storm Bryant has experienced homelessness, while living under a roof — staying temporarily in hotels or motels and living temporarily with others. Youth experiencing homelessness in these conditions face comparable trauma and challenges as those who live unsheltered, but are often harder to identify and are either not considered to be homeless or not prioritized by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), thus making them unable to obtain homelessness assistance through HUD.

This is Storm's Story

Hidden Homelessness: The Search for Home and Hope for the Future

Living in “substandard housing” is considered an experience of homelessness by the McKinney-Vento Act if “the setting in which the family, child, or youth is staying living lacks one of the fundamental utilities such as water, electricity, or heat; is infested with vermin or mold; lacks a basic functional part, such as a working kitchen or a working toilet; or may present unreasonable dangers to adults, children, or persons with disabilities” (USED Guidance, March 2017, A-3). Anthony’s story seeks to raise awareness of the realities of this kind of homelessness experienced by youth across the nation.

This is Anthony's Story

Hidden Homelessness: For a Student Experiencing Homelessness, The Power of a Caring Educator Can Make All the Difference

This is Jahnee's Story

Hidden Homelessness: High School is Hard. But Imagine The Mental Toll of Experiencing Homelessness Through It.

This is Eric's Story

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POLICY UPDATES

Help Homeless Youth Access Housing and Pursue Education

On Wednesday, November 16, 2022, bipartisan legislation was reintroduced in the U.S.House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate to help unaccompanied youth experiencing homelessness access housing and pursue their dreams of higher education. Please take one minute to contact your U.S. Senators and U.S. Representative so that homeless youth don’t have to choose between a place to live, and the education that is their best hope of a brighter, more secure future.

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GUEST BLOGS

Young People Explain Four Higher Education Bills

On Wednesday, May 11, SchoolHouse Connection, John Burton Advocates for Youth, and the Youth Law Center, organized a Congressional briefing in collaboration with the Offices of Representative Danny Davis and Senator Bob Casey. Senator Patty Murray was an honorary co-host. Young people with lived experience in the foster care system and with homelessness explained four higher education bills that would have a significant and positive impact on the lives and futures of young people. These young leaders also discussed the need for reform of the Chafee Education and Training Voucher Program and in the Satisfactory Academic Progress requirement for federal financial aid.

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Q & A FROM OUR INBOXES

A student enrolled in a virtual academy (and withdrew from the local school) last year. Then the student lost housing. I understand the virtual school is the school of origin. However, this school year, the student is withdrawing from the virtual academy and re-enrolling in in-person school. The student continues to be eligible under McKinney-Vento. However, when the student became homeless last year, the student moved to a different local attendance area. Now that the student is re-enrolling in in-person school, the student wants to return to the school they were attending before entering the virtual academy. Does the student have the right to re-enroll in the school they attended before enrolling in the virtual academy or are they required to enroll in the local attendance area school?

A: School of origin “means the school that a child or youth attended when permanently housed or the school in which the child or youth was last enrolled, including a preschool.” 42 USC 11432(g)(3)(I)(i). In this situation, the school the child attended when...
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I am working with a mother and student who just became homeless due to domestic violence. They are now doubled up with family in another district. The family they are staying with has students attending a choice school. The family I’m working with would like the student to attend the same choice school, saying that it is in the best interest of the student. Does the student have the right to attend the choice school?

A: In terms of a right to attend this school under the McKinney-Vento Act, it would have to fall under this section of the law: "(ii) enroll the child or youth in any public school that nonhomeless students who live in the attendance area in which the child or youth...
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A parent and student are staying in a transitional housing program run by a local substance abuse provider. I believe in the past, to determine eligibility, our district has looked at their housing prior to entering transitional housing, since the transitional housing program is a continuation of substance abuse treatment. I am now wondering if we should be considering this a McKinney-Vento situation?

A: I agree it is important to look at the housing situation prior to entry into the treatment program. Since the family is in the program due to substance abuse treatment and not loss of housing, the family may have a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence....
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Two students alternate staying with parents who are separated and living apart. Mom lost her housing and moved into the housing of the other parent, with the children. Are the students eligible under the McKinney-Vento Act because they are doubled-up at the other parent’s house, even though they have been living there half-time?

A: As long as there is stability in this housing, this would not be a McKinney-Vento situation. Legally, this is not “sharing the housing of others” because the home is, in fact,  their housing. The students are just staying there more often than usual. However, if...
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A student is attending a K-6 charter school and has been identified as experiencing homelessness. For 7th grade, students attend feeder schools based on their local attendance area. The student used to live in the local attendance area of school A. However, the student is currently staying in the local attendance area of school B. Does the student have a right to attend feeder school A, even though the student is not living in that attendance area? Do school of origin rights apply?

A: School of origin applies to feeder schools only when there is a "designated receiving school" for students. 42 USC 11432(g)(3)(I)(ii). If all students leave the charter school and begin attending local school A, the student would retain school of origin rights for...
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Early Childhood

Infants are at greater risk of living in homeless shelters than any other age group in the United States. Early childhood programs prevent the harmful life-long effects of homelessness on education, health and well-being.

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PreK-12

In the 2019-20 school year, public schools identified nearly 1.3 million homeless students. Schools provide basic needs, caring adults, stability, normalcy, and the skills to avoid homelessness as adults.

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Higher Education

The majority of well-paying jobs created today require education beyond high school. Post-secondary attainment is increasingly necessary to break the cycle of poverty and homelessness, and live a healthy, productive life.

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Unaccompanied Youth

Unaccompanied homeless youth are young people experiencing homelessness who are not in the physical custody of a parent or guardian. 4.2 million youth and young adults experience homelessness each year.

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How to Contact your McKinney-Vento Liaison

Under the McKinney-Vento Act, every local educational agency is required to designate a liaison for homeless children and youth. The local educational agency liaison coordinates services to ensure that homeless children and youths enroll in school and have the opportunity to succeed academically.

Click HERE to find the contact information of your local homeless education liaison.

Note: This contact information may change frequently due to staff turnover. If you have problems finding the right school district homeless liaison, please contact your state homeless education coordinator.

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