How to Help Homeless Students? First, Find Out Who They Are.

A group advocating for school students who are experiencing homelessness says it's a problem that is often hidden. But now the SchoolHouse Connection has the numbers.

Over 1.2 million prekindergarten-12th grade students, or 2% of school-age children, were without housing during the 2021-22 school year, according to the group, which teamed up with Poverty Solutions at the University of Michigan to create a database on students experiencing homelessness. The database includes the overall number, a breakdown by race and ethnicity, and the places where students report staying, such as shelters, motels and with extended family and friends.

Barbara Duffield, Schoolhouse Connection's executive director, says the first step in solving a problem is knowing that it exists in your own backyard-or legislative district.

"Our education systems have a huge role to play when we think about disrupting that cycle of housing instability for students."

-Barbara Duffield, Schoolhouse Connection

Duffield spoke at NCSL's Youth and Young Adult Policy Forum. She described the toll it takes on students when they don't know where they will sleep, whether it will be safe or whether their parents are in trouble due to substance abuse or mental health issues.

"Homelessness has a significant impact on their health and well-being, and of course, on their education as well," she says.

Related: Preventing Youth and Young Adult Homelessness: Resources for State Legislatures

Duffield is quick to note the database is a developing tool. She welcomes feedback on what would make it more useful for lawmakers and says it will have updated numbers later this summer.

Duffield and other advocates say the number of students without housing is almost certainly higher than what the database shows. Not every school district adequately tracks and reports homelessness, as evidenced by districts with high rates of poverty that aren't reporting any homeless students.

Advocates stress that schools are the best place to identify and help struggling students.

The lack of housing is usually the tip of the iceberg in terms of family problems, Danny Espinoza of the Learning Policy Institute told the NCSL forum.

"Oftentimes, it is an indicator of multiple different types of vulnerabilities and adversities," he says. "Homelessness can coexist alongside or be precipitated by instances of parental substance abuse, domestic violence, parental death and, of course, economic instability."

And Duffield notes that homeless students "are at a much higher risk of experiencing violence, both sexual and physical dating violence, and are much more likely to have contemplated and attempted suicide.

"Our education systems have a huge role to play when we think about disrupting that cycle of housing instability for students and ultimately for them as they grow up into adults in our communities," Duffield says.

She notes the federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act funds programs for schools. It was signed by President Ronald Reagan in 1987 to provide services to the homeless in general and was amended under President Bill Clinton to specifically support unhoused K-12 students.

Duffield says it requires states to have a coordinator at the state education department to administer federal funding and address any disparities unhoused students face in schools. The act also requires school districts to have a liaison for homeless students to ensure they are identified, have transportation and can stay in their home school even if they lose their housing in the district or don't have all the paperwork to register for school.

Duffield says many schools aren't fully aware of the McKinney-Vento funding opportunities. She hopes by highlighting the problem in districts and states, legislators and school personnel will better understand they have a problem to address.

Kelley Griffin produces and hosts NCSL's "Across the Aisle" podcast.

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