Federal Policy
Federal Policy Priorities for the 119th Congress
This page features our policy recommendations for the 119th Congress, informed by our close relationships with local educators, early care professionals, community homeless service providers, families, and youth, as well as our team’s decades of experience bridging practice and policy.
Homelessness jeopardizes the health, development, education, and futures of millions of children and youth each year, increasing their risk for lifelong hardship – including continued homelessness as adults.
Federal policymakers can help local communities respond to child and youth homelessness by prioritizing the actions below. SchoolHouse Connection’s policy recommendations are informed by our close relationships with local educators, early care professionals, community homeless service providers, families, and youth, as well as our team’s decades of experience bridging practice and policy.
Early Childhood Development
The early years of life from birth to age six are among the most developmentally critical: the brain is growing, motor skills are being developed, and social-emotional skills are learned. But homelessness puts the achievement of these critical milestones at risk. Young children and their families who are experiencing homelessness face unique barriers to accessing high-quality early childhood development programs – barriers that must be removed in order to benefit from these vital supports.
- A recent analysis of data from the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) survey found that 2.4% of parents experienced homelessness in the year prior to giving birth, and that, in 2023, 70,000 babies were born to parents who had been homeless within 12 months of maternal homelessness.
- An estimated 360,000 infants and toddlers experience homelessness nationally, yet only 11.45% are enrolled in an early developmental program.
- An estimated 1.2 million children under the age of six experience homelessness each year, yet less than 5% of these children are enrolled in Head Start, Early Head Start, or a school district-funded preschool program.
- A national study found that 44% of 18-25 year old homeless young women are pregnant or a parent, and approximately 1.1 million young children had a young parent who experienced homelessness during the previous year.
All young children and expectant parents experiencing homelessness (prenatal to age six) should be identified, enrolled, and participating in high quality early childhood development programs. Young children experiencing homelessness should meet developmental milestones and enter kindergarten ready to learn.
- Increase the capacity of federal early childhood programs to serve infants, toddlers, and young children experiencing homelessness by providing robust FY2026 funding for the following programs.
- Child Care Development Fund (CCDF)
- Early Intervention (IDEA Part C)
- Head Start and Early Head Start
- Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) program, and
- Preschool Development Grant Birth Through Five (PDG B-5).
- Equip early childhood development programs funded by ACF and HRSA to provide housing-related services directly to families, including utilities, short-term rental assistance, motel stays, and housing location services, by enacting a pilot to provide flexible funding for these purposes. (ACF)
- Improve federal agency implementation of existing homelessness policies by providing appropriate oversight, and by requesting timely and transparent publication of data, disaggregated by age, on children experiencing homelessness who are accessing Head Start/Early Head Start, child care subsidies, and MIECHV. (ACF/HRSA)
- Improve access to early childhood development programs for children who are in homeless shelters by providing appropriate oversight of HUD’s implementation of early childhood provisions in homeless assistance programs, and by requiring HUD to disaggregate homeless assistance data (including in HMIS) by the age of the child. (HUD)
PreK-12 Education
Homelessness creates unique barriers to educational access and success that – if unrecognized and unaddressed – contribute to high rates of chronic absence, lagging academic achievement, and higher drop-out rates. Yet education is a critical strategy to address homelessness and to prevent it from reoccurring in the future. In fact, lack of a high school degree or GED is the single greatest risk factor associated with young adult homelessness.
- Public schools reported nearly 1.4 million preK-12 students experiencing homelessness in the 2022-2023 school year, a 14% increase from the previous school year.
- Nearly half (48%) of students experiencing homelessness in the 2021-2022 school year were chronically absent, a rate that is 22 percentage points higher than other students.
- The 2021-2022 national average graduation rate for homeless students was 68%. This is 12 percentage points below other low-income students, and nearly 18 percentage points below all students.
All children and youth experiencing homelessness should be identified and enrolled in school (and in preschool where available), attend school regularly, perform at proficient or above in academic assessments, graduate from high school at rates on par with non-homeless students, and be informed about and prepared to pursue postsecondary education.
- Ensure that all children and youth experiencing homelessness are identified and assisted to enroll, attend, and succeed in school by preserving and robustly funding the McKinney-Vento Act’s Education for Homeless Children and Youth (EHCY) program. The EHCY program is the only federal education program that removes educational barriers caused by homelessness. No other federal program has the responsibility for and expertise in finding, engaging, and serving homeless students. Therefore, Congress should preserve the EHCY program and actively fund it. (ED)
- Clarify that EHCY funding can be used to pay for short-term, temporary emergency housing (such as a hotel or motel room) on a case-by-case basis if reasonable and necessary to facilitate school attendance, and as a last resort when other funding sources are not readily available. (ED)
- Ensure that any Congressional action to reduce chronic absence accounts for, and is responsive to, the needs of students experiencing homelessness. (ED)
- Expand access to career opportunities and remove barriers to educational pathways for youth experiencing homelessness to achieve economic mobility.
- Equip public schools to provide housing-related services directly to families, including utilities, short-term rental assistance, and housing location services, by enacting a pilot program to provide flexible funding for these purposes. (ED)
- Improve access to preK-12 education for children and youth who are in homeless shelters by providing oversight of HUD’s implementation of education provisions in homeless assistance programs, and requiring HUD to disaggregate homeless assistance data by the age of the child. (HUD)
Higher Education
Some form of education beyond high school is increasingly necessary to obtain a job that pays a living wage and to avoid homelessness as an adult. However, youth who experience homelessness face unique barriers to accessing financial aid and to receiving the campus support they need to obtain a postsecondary credential.
- According to the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS), 8% of undergraduate students and 5% of graduate students experienced homelessness.
- A Government Accountability Office (GAO) study found that homeless and foster youth experience challenges that make it harder for them to pursue college, such as burdensome FAFSA documentation, weak academic foundations, limited family support, and lack of awareness of available financial resources.
- Higher education is a protective factor against young adult homelessness: a 2019 study found that four-year college enrollment was nearly four times higher for young adults without experiences of homelessness in the prior 12 months (52% compared to 15% of those who experienced homelessness).
Youth experiencing homelessness who wish to pursue postsecondary education should be enrolled in postsecondary educational programs, and obtain a postsecondary credential.
- Remove barriers to financial aid by providing appropriate oversight of FAFSA Simplification Act policies for homeless and foster youth. (ED)
- Ensure that homeless and foster youth have clear and reliable pathways into and through higher education by supporting policies that create designated higher education homeless and foster youth liaisons, plans for housing during and between academic breaks, and other policies in the bipartisan Higher Education Access and Success for Homeless and Foster Youth Act (HEASHFY). (ED)
- Help youth experiencing homelessness access low-income housing and pursue full-time education by adding homeless youth to exemptions from the “student rule” in the Low Income Housing Tax Credit, such as through the bipartisan Housing for Homeless Students Act. (IRS/HUD)
- Increase homeless and foster youth’s retention and completion of postsecondary programs by providing funding for partnerships between institutions of higher education and community-based housing providers (ED/HUD)
Housing and Homeless Assistance
Families and youth need safe, stable, and affordable housing – and a range of holistic supports – in order to thrive. They also need access to emergency and transitional shelter with supportive services for their immediate safety and to mitigate the trauma of homelessness. Tragically, shelter, housing, and services are out of reach for too many, and, to make matters worse, most families and youth who experience homelessness are ineligible or not prioritized for federal homeless and housing assistance.
- The rate of eviction for families with children is more than double the eviction rate of those without children. In fact, babies and toddlers are the most at risk of eviction, and children under the age of 5 make up the largest group by age of people whose households have had an eviction action filed against them.
- The share of federal housing resources going to families has decreased significantly over time. In 2009, households with children received 42 percent of the benefits from subsidized HUD programs. By 2022, that percentage had declined to 33 percent. This includes Section 8 choice vouchers, public housing, and project-based vouchers.
- More than 80% of the children and youth identified as homeless by public schools are not eligible for federal homeless assistance because they do not meet HUD’s definition of homelessness, despite their vulnerability to trafficking and other harms.
Expectant parents, families with children, and youth who are homeless on their own (unaccompanied homeless youth) should be connected to and prioritized for housing that meets their needs, and have access to emergency and transitional shelter with supportive services to protect them from harm and help them recover from the trauma of homelessness.
- Prevent expectant parents and families with children from experiencing homelessness by enacting eviction prevention legislation that prioritizes these populations and allows early care programs and schools to distribute eviction prevention assistance. (ACF/HUD)
- Increase housing stability by providing targeted housing vouchers to expectant parents and families with young children experiencing homelessness (as defined by the education subtitle of the McKinney-Vento Act). (HUD)
- Equip early childhood programs and public schools to provide housing-related services directly to families, including utilities, short-term rental assistance, motel stays, and housing location services, by enacting a pilot program to provide flexible funding for these purposes. (ACF)
- Increase access to federal homeless assistance by aligning HUD’s definition of homelessness with the definitions that are used by other federal child and youth programs by passing the bipartisan Homeless Children and Youth Act. (HUD)
- Help youth experiencing homelessness access low-income housing and pursue full-time education by adding homeless youth to exemptions from the “student rule” in the Low Income Housing Tax Credit, such as through the bipartisan Housing for Homeless Students Act. (IRS/HUD)
- Increase homeless and foster youth’s retention and completion of postsecondary programs by providing funding for partnerships between institutions of higher education and community-based housing providers (ED/HUD)
- Allow homeless and foster youth pursuing postsecondary education to use Housing Choice vouchers to pay for college campus housing, by amending and passing the bipartisan Campus Housing Affordability Act. (HUD)
- Ensure youth who experience homelessness on their own have access to safe appropriate shelter and transitional housing by providing robust FY2026 funding for the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act programs. (ACF)