Homeless Children in Our Schools
The McKinney-Vento Act’s Education for Homeless Children and Youth (EHCY) program removes barriers to the enrollment, attendance, and success of homeless children and youth in school. The EHCY program was amended by the No Child Left Behind Act, and now requires all school districts to designate a homeless liaison, proactively identify homeless children and youth, and provide transportation to stabilize the educational placements of homeless students. These provisions have greatly strengthened homeless students’ access to and stability in school, and therefore increased their opportunities for academic success.
| Total Identified and Enrolled, K-12 | 2005-2006: | 907,228 |
| Total Identified and Enrolled, K-12 | 2004-2005: | 655,691 |
| Total Identified and Enrolled, K-12 | 2003-2004: | 602,568 |
This data is from the US Department of Education’s annual Federal data collection. The total should not be viewed as an estimate of the prevalence of homelessness among school-age children and youth, because children and youth who were not identified as homeless, or not enrolled in school, were not included in the data collection. Furthermore, pre-school children are not included in these counts.
Primary Residence of Homeless Children and Youth, K-12, 2005-2006*
| 484,463 | (56%) | Doubled-Up | sharing the housing of others temporarily due to loss of housing |
| 207,925 | (24%) | Sheltered | DV shelters, homeless shelters, emergency foster shelters |
| 29,913 | (3%) | Unsheltered | cars, parks |
| 65,429 | (7%) | Hotel/Motel | due to lack of adequate alternative accommodations |
| 91,864 | (10%) | Unknown/Other |
*Note: this total does not match the total number identified because not all school districts submitted primary residence information.
Issues of Definition and the Exclusion of Children from HUD Homeless Assistance
The definition of homelessness in the education subtitle of the McKinney-Vento Act (administered by the US Department of Education) includes children and youth in motels due to lack of adequate alternative accommodations, and those who share the housing of others due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or similar reasons. This definition reflects the reality of family and youth homelessness: The streets are untenable for families and youth who lose their housing because it means child welfare involvement and the separation of the family. In addition, many shelters will not accept families with older children and/or boys over the age of 10, so the family must split up or find another unstable arrangement.
In these unstable, precarious, and damaging arrangements, families and children are not eligible for Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) homeless assistance. 56% of homeless children identified and enrolled in school in 2005-2006 were in doubled-up situations, and 7% were in motels. Thus, 63% of all children and youth identified as homeless by public schools in 2005-2006 were ineligible for HUD homeless assistance.
For more information, please contact Barbara Duffield at 202.364.7392 or bduffield@naehcy.org
NAEHCY