Philadelphia officials and advocates urge school district to do more to help homeless students

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As Philadelphia prepares for the new school year, members of the City Council and others are putting serious pressure on the district to do more for students experiencing homelessness.

Advocates and local community groups stressed the urgent need for programming to better help youth who are experiencing or at risk of housing insecurity during a City Council public hearing last week at the Alan Horwitz “Sixth Man” Center. The discussion grew heated at times, such as when Councilmember Isaiah Thomas had an impassioned exchange with Rachel Holzman, a school district representative.

“We’re funding you blindly at this enormous level,” said Thomas, who chairs the City Council’s Education Committee and organized the July 31 meeting. “I’m wondering why no one has ever come to City Council, gone to Harrisburg [the state capital], and said, “‘Listen, this system we have doesnt work. We’re not able to properly identify young people who are homeless because we don’t have the proper staff.’”

Homelessness is far from a new issue in Philadelphia, but statistics indicate the problem is getting more acute for the district, which identified 6,217 students as homeless in the 2022-2023 school year . That’s a nearly 46% increase from the 2018-2019 school year. For the 2023-24 school year, district officials told council members at the hearing their initial counts show the number of homeless students increased by 20% over the prior year.

“If that’s not an emergency I don’t know what is,” Councilmember Jamie Gauthier said.

Although the district has taken steps to provide more support for homeless students, there are still gaps in what schools can provide or point students and their families to — the district does not have designated staff positions for homeless liaisons, for example. Philadelphia’s school counselors and teachers who are often already overworked frequently end up serving as de facto school liaisons for students experiencing housing insecurity.

Homelessness and housing insecurity can impact everything from students’ behavior and academic progress to nutrition. Currently, Philadelphia students who are identified as homeless are offered a number of services including transportation, enrollment support, emergency funds, and more.

“Many of the students I worked with who experienced homelessness struggled with their education because for many of them where they were going to sleep, their next meal, the well-being of their parents or siblings was their priority, not Algebra I or English 3,” said Debora Carrera, Philadelphia city government’s chief education officer, in her testimony before the council.

At the hearing, Oriana F. shared her own story about moving around often as a child. (Chalkbeat is withholding her last name due to concerns about privacy.) Because of the changes in schools and neighborhoods, she was put on medication for anxiety and behavior.

“When I was experiencing homelessness I wished I had more support than I had back then,” she said. “Someone I could talk to without [being] a necessary reporter and actually talking to me and programs for people my age would help a lot.”

Maura McInerney, legal director of the Education Law Center, offered a number of solutions at the hearing to combating the issue: expanding youth-focused housing for those who’ve aged out of foster care, providing school services for children in shelters, and creating centralized hubs in schools to track homeless students, and more.

Despite critiques from the city council, Rachel Holzman, deputy chief for the district’s Office of Students Rights and Responsibilities, maintained the district has made great strides in addressing the issue. Holzman mentioned additional teacher training, a podcast for adults to see warning signs of at-risk students, and the district’s creation of a teen program to give them a voice.

The district has also partnered with various homeless organizations to better track the number of homeless youth.

Yet the hearing highlighted ongoing frustrations with the current system.

Thomas told Chalkbeat in an interview after the hearing that “we have a lot of work to do” to see how the city can help schools address the issue.

And Councilmember Kendra Brooks also had strong words for the district on X , the site formerly known as Twitter, saying that school counselors “are already responsible for too much. We can’t ask them to be case managers for homeless youth as well. Who is responsible for connecting homeless students with needed resources?”

Under the federal McKinney-Vento Homelessness Assistance Act , every school district and charter school must appoint a local homeless education liaison to identify students experiencing homelessness and connect them to services.

Holzman told Brooks at the hearing that every school counselor in the district “is considered a homeless liaison.”

In their comments at the hearing, some youth voiced a need for more resources to be offered to at-risk students.

“I am able to be my best self when I have a community in my corner and not just at a desk or on the phone,” said Kymirah B., a youth advisor and board member at Valley Youth House. (Chalkbeat is withholding her last name due to concerns about privacy.)

She highlighted the Synergy Project , an outreach program helping students who are homeless or facing similar challenges, and how it supported her during her time of need.

Under Philadelphia’s mandated reporter training, school staff are required to alert protection services if a student tells them of anything potentially concerning. This can lead to complicated situations, such as students losing trust in staff. But many of the women spoke of feeling like people only talked to them because it was their job to do so, not because they really cared.

“I needed a mentor and not just someone with a title,” Kymirah B. said.

Azia Ross is a summer intern for Chalkbeat Philadelphia. You can reach her at aziaross@chalkbeat.org .