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Homeless Children: Update on Research, Policy, Programs, and Opportunities

Publication Date

Prepared by:
Judith Samuels, Ph.D., The Nathan S. Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research and Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, NYU School of Medicine
Marybeth Shinn, Ph.D., Department of Human and Organizational Behavior,
Peabody College, Vanderbilt University
John C. Buckner, Ph.D., Children’s Hospital Boston, Harvard Medical School

Under contract to:
Policy Research Associates, Inc.
Delmar, NY

Prepared for:
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
 

Despite the knowledge that homeless children face poor outcomes, research has largely focused on the parent(s) in a homeless family, perhaps because these children are still part of a family unit. However, the children themselves have different and separate needs from their parent(s). Given the impact of the current recession, it is critical to understand the impact of homelessness on our youngest population, and to ensure that resources are mobilized to guarantee that these children's needs are met quickly and thoroughly. This paper provides an update on the research, policy, laws, and funding for programs and services for children who are homeless in the United States. Education, health, and mental health for homeless children are examined.

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Section I. Introduction, Definitions, Context, and Data

I-A. Introduction

This paper provides an update on the research, policy, laws, and funding for programs and services for children who are homeless in the United States. Education, health, and mental health for homeless children are examined. “Homeless children” here refers to minor children accompanying their parent(s)/guardian(s) during a homeless episode. Unaccompanied youth who are homeless are intentionally excluded in this paper. Their issues, needs, and the systems responsible for responding are different and, thus, are outside the purview of this paper.

Children and their families who become homeless enter this status from a much larger number of at-risk families with very limited incomes. Because family homelessness is a temporary state and not a permanent condition, almost all homeless families will eventually be re-housed and rejoin this larger group of housed families. An episode of homelessness is an adversity encountered by many children living in low-income neighborhoods. Children who become homeless are at risk for, or have already faced, other major issues, such as exposure to family and community violence, which can impact children regardless of whether they are living in shelter or in permanent housing. Because of the fluid nature of family homelessness, it is difficult to intervene over the long-term with homeless children without looking to settings, such as schools, that children will be in regardless of whether they are presently living in shelter or in permanent housing. The recent economic downturn and housing foreclosure crisis also impacts homelessness.

The federal response to child homelessness has included enacting laws that seek to protect the rights of these children, such as those ensuring their inclusion in the education system. This is achieved through the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act as reauthorized in the No Child Left Behind legislation. But there are many other federal, state, and local programs and funding streams in place to assist homeless children. These programs cover direct services to children, such as health care, nutrition, and transportation, and programs to assist their families, such as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) programs (e.g., Section 8 and emergency housing).

I-B. Definitions of homeless families

Definitions of homelessness pertaining to families differ, depending upon whether HUD’s or the Department of Education (ED) McKinney-Vento criteria are being used.

The HUD definition of homelessness (below) is used to determine qualification for participation in HUD programs. It does not include individuals living doubled-up or in hotels/motels, situations in which homeless children often are found. According to the HUD definition, an individual who is homeless:

  1. lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence; and
  2. has a primary nighttime residence that is —
    1. a supervised publicly or privately operated shelter designed to provide temporary living accommodations (including welfare hotels, congregate shelters, and transitional housing for people with mental illness);
    2. an institution that provides a temporary residence for individuals intended to be institutionalized; or
    3. a public or private place not designed for, or ordinarily used as, a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings.

The ED definition is broader than HUD's as it includes children in the HUD definition plus those who are living doubled up due to economic distress. According to the ED definition (U.S. Code, Title 42, Chapter 119, Subchapter I, § 11301), the term “homeless children and youths”:

  1. means individuals who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence (within the meaning of section 11302 (a)(1) of this title); and
  2. includes —
    1. children and youths who are sharing the housing of other persons due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or a similar reason; are living in motels, hotels, trailer parks, or camping grounds due to the lack of alternative adequate accommodations; are living in emergency or transitional shelters; are abandoned in hospitals; or are awaiting foster care placement;
    2. children and youths who have a primary nighttime residence that is a public or private place not designed for or ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings (within the meaning of section 11302 (a)(2)(C) of this title);
    3. children and youths who are living in cars, parks, public spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, bus or train stations, or similar settings;
    4. migratory children (as such term is defined in section 6399 of title 20) who qualify as homeless for the purposes of this part because the children are living in circumstances described in clauses (A) through (C).

Many families begin their journey through homelessness by staying temporarily with other people or in a motel to avoid sleeping outdoors in public spaces and in cars. Doubled-up situations are often overcrowded and unstable. Motel rooms, also crowded, rarely include cooking and appropriate food storage facilities, making adequate nutrition difficult. Many localities lack adequate room in family shelters, including domestic violence shelters, and some areas lack family shelters altogether. In these circumstances, families find alternatives, most often temporary housing with others. The ED homeless definition includes these children.

Other federal agencies also use definitions of homelessness to determine eligibility of children for programs and services. Table 1 (below) indicates the federal program that serves homeless children, the agency responsible for the program, and the “overnight” eligibility criteria for each program.

Table 1.

Definitions of Homelessness Used by Federal Programs Serving Children

Program Agency/Department Shelter Doubled-up Hotel/ Motel Other locations
All HUD programs Department of Housing and Urban Development X      
McKinney-Vento Education for Homeless Children and Youth Program Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, Department of Education X X X X
Head Start Administration for Children and Families, Department of Health and Human Services X X X X
Runaway and Homeless Youth Administration for Children and Families, Department of Health and Human Services X X X X
Health Care for the Homeless Health Resources and Services Administration, Department of Health and Human Services X X X X
Treatment for the Homeless Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Department of Health and Human Services X X X X
Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program Veterans Employment and Training Service, Department of Labor X X X X
Violence Against Women Office of Violence Against Women, Department of Justice X X X X
School Lunch Program Food and Nutrition Service, Department of Agriculture X X X X

 

I-C. Counts of homeless children

Children in families meeting the HUD definition of homelessness

HUD’s most recent counts of homeless children are summarized in the 2008 Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR) released July 2009, which includes a count of children residing in HUD-funded shelters and transitional housing. The report includes information about point-in-time counts as well as an annual count reflecting the 12-month period October 2007 to September 2008. The data in AHAR are collected through HUD’s Homeless Management Information System (HMIS). The annual count in the 2008 AHAR was 326,400 children, representing 20 percent of the total number of homeless individuals in the HUD data (see Figure 1). About half (51 percent) of these children were under age 6 (see Figure 2). These numbers exclude families in domestic violence shelters who did not access a residential program serving the general homeless population during the year, families that accessed other shelters that do not receive HUD funds, homeless families that never entered shelter, and families in which the parent is under age 18.

Figure 1

Distribution of Homeless Persons, HUD HMIS Annual Data

Populations
Children