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Families Experiencing Homelessness

“Students Experiencing Homelessness” means a child or youth age 24 or younger, whether accompanied by an adult or unaccompanied, who lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence. 

This includes the following:

  • Children and youth who share the housing of other persons due to loss of housing, economic or other hardship; are living in motels, hotels, trailer parks, or campgrounds due to the lack of adequate alternative accommodations; are living in emergency or transitional shelters; are abandoned in hospitals; are runaways or turned away by their parents or legal guardians;
  • Children and youth 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;
  • Children and youth living in cars, parks, public spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, bus or train stations, or similar settings; and
  • Migratory children and youth who are living in circumstances similar to (a) through (c).

The McKinney Vento Homeless Assistance Act is a federal law that ensures students have equal access to education. Students experiencing homelessness may be disciplined for violations of school district discipline policies and procedures; however, considerations should be made by school staff to ensure the safety of the student, remove barriers to participating in the process and include factors related to the trauma of homelessness in assessing the intent of the behavior.

Some specific examples of this include the following:

  • Consider where the student is currently staying before enforcing an out of school suspension. Are they allowed to be there during the day? If not, are there alternative places they can be during the day?
  • Offer a cab or bus token for the Return to Learning meeting or for picking up classroom work if transportation poses a challenge to these steps.
  • In determining the level of discipline, consider if the student’s current living situation could have played a role in the choice of behavior.
  • Unaccompanied students may not have a parent/guardian who can participate, refer to the Unaccompanied Youth Rights guide for direction.