Students experiencing homelessness are largely invisible

in school reopening plans

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The COVID-19 crisis is exacerbating the challenges students experiencing homelessness face(link is external), as well as causing the number of youth who are homeless to grow. Education continues to be one of the most important components of their journey to break the cycle of poverty and reach economic independence, health, and well-being.

Yet these students’ needs have been neglected in both the national dialogue(link is external) on the impact of pandemic-related school closures and school districts’ plans for remote learning.

For many students facing housing insecurity, schools are a primary source of meals, clothing, cleaning and laundry facilities, and counseling. School closures have intensified concerns surrounding food insecurity and safe spaces(link is external) for students who are homeless, as well as the economically-driven digital divide(link is external). 

In short, the pandemic has heightened the need for services, as well as the complexity in serving students experiencing homelessness. Yet our analysis of district reopening plans, combined with a national scan of surveys detailing these students’ needs and districts’ efforts to meet them, uncovers a surprising dearth of creative solutions—or even recognition of this challenge—by schools, districts, or states. 

The 1.5 million U.S. students(link is external) experiencing housing insecurity tend to be some of our most vulnerable learners and represent our most systematically and historically underserved populations. 

Students who are homeless have an 18 percent chance(link is external) of receiving services for a disability, which is 4 percent higher than the national average. Black and Hispanic students are additionally disproportionately impacted(link is external) by homelessness, with Black youth and young adults having an 83 percent higher risk of reporting homelessness compared to their white peers. And students experiencing homelessness are over five times more likely to go hungry(link is external) than their housed peers. 

Districts that want to close long-standing equity gaps simply cannot do this work without placing these students at the center of their problem-solving.  

Few districts even mention students experiencing homelessness.

Just 11 of the 106 school districts in CRPE’s reopening database(link is external) outline plans to provide specific support to homeless and transitional students.