1,355,821 homeless students enrolled in public school districts

This report marks the thirteenth school year for which the U.S. Department of Education (ED) has collected annual performance data from all states for the Education for Homeless Children and Youth (EHCY) program. The ED Facts Submission System allows for the collection of unduplicated data on students who experienced homelessness and were reported as enrolled in public schools, even if they attend more than one local educational agency ( LEA ) during the school year. 

This report draws from that data to provide the only publicly available compilation of unduplicated data for the EHCY program. The number of homeless students enrolled in public school districts and reported by state educational agencies (S EAs ) during School Year (SY) 2016 - 1 7 was 1,355,821.
  
This total is not intended to indicate the prevalence of children and youth experiencing homelessness , as i t only includes those students who are enrolled in public school districts or LEAs . It does not capture school - aged children and youth who experience homelessness during the summer only , those who dropped out of s chool, or young children who are not enrolled in preschool programs administered by LEAs . 

Key findings over the three school year comparison period , provided in the order that they appear in this report , include the following: 

• The number of school districts that received EHCY subgrants under the McKinney - Vento Homeless Assistance Act (McKinney - Vento Act) saw little change , with only 4,301 , or just under one - quarter , of school districts receiving either an award as a single school district or as an award to a regional consortium. 
• Funding for the EHCY program increased by $ 4.8 million between Fiscal Y ears (FYs) 201 4 and 201 6 . 
• States provide d an average per pupil amount of $ 79.61 in federal McKinney - Vento funding to school districts for the additional supp orts needed by homeless students in SY 2016 - 17 . 
• The number of identified, enrolled students reported as experiencing homelessness at some point during the last three school years increased 7 % , from 1,263,323 students in SY 2014 - 15 to 1,355,821 student s in SY 2016 - 17. • Twenty s tates experienced a growth in their homeless student populations of 10% or more during the three - year period covered in this report . • At the point of identification by school district liaisons , the majority of students experiencing homelessness , 76%, share housing with others due to loss of housing, economic hardship , or a similar reason . Shelters are the next most commonly used type of housing, as 14% of homeless students resided in shelters. Six percent had a primary nighttime residen ce of hotels or motels , and 4 % were identified as unsheltered. 
• Among the types of housing used by students at the time they were identified by liaisons, the unsheltered category of primary nighttime residence grew the most, with a 27% increase in the number of unsheltered students. The use of hotels and motels increased by 10%, continuing a trend seen in past versions of this repo rt, while doubled - up students increased by 7%. The number of students staying in shelters only increased by 3% over the three - y ear period.
• The change in the unaccompanied homeless youth subgroup was the most marked of the subgroups , with an increase of 25 %. Additionally, unaccompanied youth make up 10% or more of the homeless student population in 28 states, up from 20 states in the previous school year . 
• Students experiencing homelessness who are also English learners increased by 19%. They now account for 16% of students in homeless situations. 
• The category for homeless students with a disability enrolled in school saw a nother increase, with a change of 14 %. While only 13% of all students have an identified disability, nearly 62 % of states reported a proportion of homeless students with disabilities of 20% or more . 
• Due to testing waivers granted during the years covered by this report and many other changes in the standards and administration of assessments, this report does not compare achievement trends over the three years included. However  during SY 2016 - 17  approximately 30 % of students experiencing homelessness achieved academic proficiency in reading ( language arts ) , and 25 % of them were proficient in mathematics .