As increased foreclosure creates more homelessness and children change schools frequently, learning suffers. The author surveys the research and makes a case for urgent action.Homeless persons ; Education

Chester Hartman

English

Research Papers in Economics

22   Fall 2009
 and Student Learning
by Chester Hartman
Poverty & Race Research 
Action Council
HomelessnessCommunities & Banking    23
is an obvious assumption that students of all ages are affect-
ed negatively by losing their regular place of residence and   
relocating  for  an  indefinite  period  to  a  relative’s  or  friend’s 
house (if they are lucky), to a motel or shelter (if they are less 
lucky), or to a campground, tent city, park, abandoned building, 
bus station, vehicle, or the street (if they are really unlucky). But 
one need not rely on assumptions. There is a wealth of evidence 
documenting how learning suffers, and it’s especially worth 
paying attention to today as foreclosures increase and create 
more homelessness.
The  definition  of  homeless 
used here is that of the federal 
McKinney-Vento  Act:  children 
and  youth  who  lack  “a  fixed, 
regular,  and  adequate  night-
time  residence.”1  That  usually 
translates  into  living  in  over-
crowded—and  hence  unsta-
ble—conditions not conducive 
to a focus on schoolwork. 
It
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Recent evidence of the effect of home-
lessness comes from the Gulf Coast, where 
according  to  the  U.S.  Dept.  of  Educa-
tion, the 2005 hurricanes displaced some 
372,000 students—preschool through col-
lege. Tens of thousands of K-12 students 
changed  school  districts,  disrupting  their 
studies and their relationships with teachers 
and peers. And although some student chal-
lenges resulting from a hurricane may be 
unique, the arrival at a new school without 
records on health, past discipline, immuni-
zation, or academics is not unusual for any 
homeless child.2 
Whatever  the  individual  cause,  more 
than 1.5 million children go to sleep without 
a home each year, according to the National 
Center on Family Homelessness (NCFH).3 
The  experience—no  matter  how  tempo-
rary—can severely disrupt a child’s future 
sense of security.4 And schools are seeing the 
problem worsen. As a recent Time article 
reported, nearly 16 percent more students 
were homeless in the 2007 to 2008 academ-
ic year than in the previous one. 
The reasons why homelessness under-
mines the concentration needed for learn-
ing  are  legion.  According  to  the  NCFH 
report, homeless “children endure a lack of 
safety, comfort, privacy, reassuring routines, 
adequate health care, … sustaining relation-
ships, and a sense of community.” Moreover, 
their homelessness often involves other hur-
dles to getting an education. NCFH notes 
that “children without homes are twice as 
likely to experience hunger” and “are more 
than  twice  as  likely  as  middle  class  chil-
dren to have moderate to severe acute and 
chronic  health  problems.”  Unsurprisingly, 
the report continues, “homeless children are 
twice as likely as other children to repeat a 
grade in school, to be expelled or suspend-
ed, or to drop out of high school.” 
First Focus, a bipartisan organization 
advocating  for  children  and  families,  has 
identified behavioral issues associated with 
forced mobility. It notes a study showing 
that “frequent movers were 77 percent more 
likely than children who have not moved to 
have four or more behavior problems.” In 
another study tracking 4,500 California and 
Oregon middle school through high school 
students,  says  First  Focus,  young  people 
who attended several different elementary 
schools showed 20 percent increased “likeli-
hood of violent behavior in high school.”5 
In fact, frequent moves were correlated with 
28 percent of homeless children attending 
three or more schools in a single year.6
Numerous localities are testing inter-
ventions. The Time magazine report zeroed 
in on Minneapolis, where nearly one in 10 
children attending public school is home-
less. “Perhaps out of necessity,” Time says, 
“the district has become a national mod-
el for how to identify what it refers to as 
‘highly  mobile  students’  and  ensure  that 
their  education  is  not  interrupted.  … 
Teachers  and  school  social  workers  are 
trained to recognize signs that a child may 
be between homes: hoarding food, wearing 
the same clothes every day, regularly fall-
ing asleep in class. … The school district 
gives each homeless child a new backpack 
full of school supplies paid for by private 
donations and federal dollars.” And in the 
winter, “staff members hand out coats, mit-
tens, and hats. Year round, they find free 
medical clinics to treat earaches and pro-
vide dental services. School social workers 
take kids to get glasses and vaccinations. 
Many high schools offer laundry or shower 
facilities for teenagers.” Additionally, the 
district  “provides  funding  to  make  sure 
kids don’t get left out of sports, field trips, 
school dances, or special projects like the 
science fair.”
The economic crisis is intensifying the 
challenges.7 First Focus estimates that over 
the next two years “2 million children will 
be directly impacted by the mortgage cri-
sis as their families lose their homes due 
to foreclosures.” It adds that the estimate 
would  be  higher  if  it  included  children 
evicted from rental units affected by fore-
closure.8 More than two-thirds of the chil-
dren losing homes through foreclosure are 
either African American or Latino, exacer-
bating  long-recognized  achievement  gaps 
for those populations. 
Using Center for Responsible Lending 
projections and 2005 to 2006 data, the First 
Focus report provides a state-by-state esti-
mate of future foreclosures and their direct 
effects on children. It gives 76,000 as the 
number of such foreclosures in the six New 
England states, with more than 60,000 chil-
dren affected. 
Although  more  help  is  needed,  the 
administration’s  economic  stimulus  pack-
age included $70 million in supplementa-
ry funding for the McKinney-Vento Act’s 
Education  for  Homeless  Children  and 
Youth program. The legislation required the 
U.S. Department of Education to provide 
funding for the program to state education-
al  agencies  within  60  days  of  the  legisla-
tion’s enactment, and states were required 
to distribute the money to local school dis-
tricts within 120 days of receipt of funds. 
Additionally,  the  American  Recovery  and 
Reinvestment  Act  provided  funding  for 
programs  that  benefit  homeless  children 
among others: Head Start and Early Head 
Start, HUD’s Emergency Shelter Grant pro-
gram, FEMA’s Emergency Food and Shelter 
program, Child Care Development Block 
Grants, Special Education Funding to the 
States  and  Special  Education  Grants  for 
Infants and Families, and Title 1 funding to 
school districts. A State Fiscal Stabilization 
Fund intended to prevent cutbacks in criti-
cal  education  and  other  services  received 
$53.6 billion. 
As  the  National  Center  on  Family 
Homelessness says, homelessness in a coun-
try like United States is unacceptable. The 
Unsurprisingly, the report continues, “homeless 
children are twice as likely as other children to 
repeat a grade in school, to be expelled or sus-
pended, or to drop out of high school.” Communities & Banking    25
severe effects on the educational enterprise 
need to be added to the many compelling 
reasons for solving the problem.
Chester Hartman is director of research at 
the Poverty & Race Research Action Council, 
based in Washington, DC. He may be reached 
at chartman@prrac.org.
Acknowledgments
Eric Tars of the National Law Center on 
Homelessness  and  Poverty  and  Barbara 
Duffield of the National Association for the 
Education of Homeless Children and Youth 
provided useful information for this article.
Endnotes
See 42 U.S.C. §11434A(2)(a).
1 
See Chester Hartman and Gregory Squires, “Katrina 
2 
and  Kids: The  Impact,  the  Sequelae”  in  Rebuilding 
Sustainable Communities for Children and Their Families 
after  Disasters,  ed.  Adenrele  Awotona  (Newcastle 
upon  Tyne,  United  Kingdom:  Cambridge  Scholars 
Publishing,  forthcoming).  The  chapter  includes  an 
appendix  with  information  on  the  Congressionally 
mandated  National  Commission  on  Disasters  and 
Children.  See  also  “Student  Mobility:  How  Some 
Children Get Left Behind,” eds. Chester Hartman and 
Todd Franke, The Journal of Negro Education 72, no. 
1 (2003), in particular, Patricia F. Julianelle and Maria 
Foscarinis,  “Responding  to  the  School  Mobility  of 
Children and Youth Experiencing Homelessness: The 
McKinney-Vento  Act  and  Beyond,”  and  articles  on 
migrant students, students in career military families, 
immigrant  students,  students  with  emotional  and 
behavioral disorders, children in foster care, and an 
overview of research on the causes and consequences of 
student mobility, which pinpoint housing instability as 
the principal trigger for school changes.
America’s Youngest Outcasts: State Report Card on Child 
3 
Homelessness (2009), www.HomelessChildrenAmerica.
org.
Urban  Institute  research  regarding  the  U.S. 
4 
Immigration  and  Customs  Enforcement  workplace 
raids’  effects  on  children  are  a  case  in  point.  See 
for  example,  http://www.bos.frb.org/commdev/
c&b/2008/summer/capps_immigrant_children.pdf. 
Phillip Lovell and Julia Isaacs, “The Impact of the 
5 
Mortgage Crisis on Children,” First Focus (May 2008), 
www.firstfocus.net. 
“Education of Homeless Children: Overview,” 
6  Street 
Lawyer (Washington, DC: National Law Center for 
Homelessness and Poverty, June 18, 2008). See also 
the  PBS  NewsHour’s  March  31,  2009,  segment  on 
homeless children in schools, focusing on Green Bay, 
Wisconsin, http://www.pbs.org/newshour/video. 
Barbara  Duffield  and  Philip  Lovell, 
7  The  Economic 
Crisis  Hits  Home:  The  Unfolding  Increase  in  Child 
and Youth  Homelessness  (Washington,  DC:  National 
Association for the Education of Homeless Children 
and Youth and First Focus, December 2008). The study 
provides  recommendations  for  federal  policymakers, 
schools, and community agencies.
Danilo Pelletiere and Keith Waldrip, “Renters and the 
8 
Housing Credit Crisis,” Poverty & Race (July-August 
2008).

Homelessness and student learning

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