Opinion: For Many Students, Homeless Means School-less — and Things Could Get Even Worse

Instead of being stuck at home during the pandemic, 1.3 million students had no home at all. Unable to socially distance, they lived in overcrowded rooms, shelters, cars and campgrounds, sleeping on couches or floors. Instead of struggling with a single shared computer and sketchy connections, they had no devices, electrical outlets or food. They’d even lost the most stable place in their lives: school.

For the nation’s homeless students and their families, the pandemic was truly catastrophic. While chronic student absenteeism nearly doubled overall from 16% before the pandemic to nearly 30% by 2021-22 (the latest year for which data is available), the rate for homeless children climbed to 52% — contributing to significant academic challenges. In 2021-22, the high school graduation rate for homeless students was 12 percentage points below that of other low-income children and nearly 18 points below the rate for all students.

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As unimaginable as it might seem, the situation could get much worse — unless Congress steps up soon. Organizations such as the Center on Reinventing Public Education are raising the alarm through reports such as its recent third annual State of the American Student , which focuses on the experiences of special populations during the pandemic. Among these are students experiencing homelessness, who continue to face significant barriers to school attendance and success — barriers that could be reduced by increases in targeted funding.

But pervasive misconceptions about homelessness have stymied such efforts:

• It’s mainly an urban problem. It isn’t. Homelessness exists at similar rates in rural, suburban and urban communities.
  
• It’s mainly a housing problem. It isn’t. For children and youth, homelessness often amounts to school-lessness, and without a high school diploma, the odds greatly increase that they will continue to experience homelessness into adulthood.
  
• Schools can’t do much about it. The examples below, and many more, show that they can.

During the latter half of the pandemic, public schools received $800 million in federal support specifically for homeless students, thanks to a bipartisan amendment to the American Rescue Plan. Though that was a drop in the bucket compared with the overall $122 billion in emergency funds for K-12 education, that $800 million was eight times the regular federal appropriation for students experiencing homelessness. Before the pandemic, only 1 in 5 school districts received specific funding for homeless students. During the pandemic and early recovery, more than half did.

That money made a huge difference. It made it possible for Hawaii to establish navigator positions to connect homeless students to a wide range of services, including transportation, early learning, reengagement and community building. Lafayette Parish Schools in Louisiana improved the identification and academic success of students experiencing homelessness by hiring dedicated specialists, and demonstrated what can be done when more funding is designated to support this work. Realizing that families and youth needed help navigating housing assistance and supportive services to stabilize their education and their lives, Michigan’s Kent Independent School District contracted with an outside partner to pay for a family service coordinator, short-term motel stays and gas cards. (Additional bright spots can be found here .)

But with the expiration of pandemic aid at the end of this month, that essential support will go away.

While some states, districts and schools may continue their innovative services for students experiencing homelessness, most will be unable to do so in the face of multiple funding challenges and a homelessness crisis that is worsening.

In response, Congress should match the $800 million in pandemic emergency funding in the annual appropriation for the McKinney-Vento Act’s Education for Homeless Children and Youth program. At its current level ($129 million a year), the program represents less than .3% of the federal pre-K-12 budget for a population that accounts for at least 3% of all students in those grades. An $800 million annual appropriation would constitute a mere 1.8% of the annual federal education budget and would allow schools to increase access, stability and success for millions more children.

Homelessness is a complex, multi-generational phenomenon. There is no one-size-fits-all solution. But for a mere fraction of the education budget, Congress can help prevent homelessness from disrupting the future of millions of students, and avoid the much greater expense of entrenched homelessness and other costly outcomes. Lack of a high school diploma or GED is the single greatest risk factor for homelessness later in life, so targeted educational support at adequate funding levels for these students now is an obvious immediate step that will help all students succeed in the long term.