As reported in the Guardian, "America’s homeless population has risen this year for the first time since the Great Recession, propelled by the housing crisis afflicting the west coast, according to a new federal study. The study has found that 553,742 people were homeless on a single night this year, a 0.7% increase over last year." For the full story, click here. "Median hourly wages in the US have barely budged for decades, from $16.74 in 1973 to $17.86 in 2016, in terms of 2016 dollars, according to the Economic Policy Institute. But in New York, for instance, the hourly wage required to comfortably rent a one-bedroom is $27.29. In Los Angeles, it is $22.98." - Alastair Gee Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago recently released the results of a groundbreaking national survey, Missed Opportunities: Youth Homelessness in America. According to the research findings, the lack of a high school degree or GED is the top risk factor for youth and young adult homelessness. In fact, youth without a high school degree or GED are 3.5 times more likely to experience homelessness than peers who completed high school.
Inequality in America is apparent by age 3: Most rich kids are in school, while most poor kids are not, according to a new book, “Cradle to Kindergarten: A New Plan to Combat Inequality.” Click here to read the full article and learn more about early educational inequality.
Click here to access a KALW article about the experiences of homeless students in Oakland Unified schools. Meet Naseem Bennett, read about his 2-hour commute to school, and learn why homeless students are less likely than any other group of students to graduate.
Today, the Enterprise Policy Development & Research team released a new report examining the connections between education and housing in providing opportunity. Creating Equitable Student Outcomes: How Housing and Education Policy are Intertwined looks at how segregation in education and housing prevents children across socioeconomic and racial/ethnic backgrounds from achieving the greatest possible academic success. It details the ways in which the United States has tried over the years to address disparities in academic achievement, and how housing policies and practices remain connected to those efforts. Access the report here.
Abt Associates released a new brief from the Family Options Study that examines separations between parents and their children, as well as adult partners and spouses while staying in emergency shelters. The brief is available here.
To assist educators and policymakers in gauging their own efforts in serving homeless students, the Institute for Children, Poverty, and Homelessness (ICPH) has published Out of the Shadows: A State-by-State Ranking of Accountability for Homeless Students. The report and state rankings are available here. "The crisis of family homelessness in the United States continues to fall heaviest on the nation’s most vulnerable: its children. Despite decades of varied policy approaches and a growing body of literature on the impact of homelessness on the development of young bodies and minds, the number of children without a permanent home continues to grow, with close to 1.3 million students in public schools counted as homeless during the 2014–15 school year." - Institute for Children, Poverty, and Homelessness (ICPH) California Progress Report on the Education of Children and Youth Experiencing Homelessness6/20/2017
Click here to access California's state report card on the education of children and youth experiencing homelessness. According to the report, 4.5% of all California students enrolled in public school are identified as homeless. That's 235,983 students.
Click here to access the report "Well-Being of Young Children after Experiencing Homelessness." The report, a publication of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, found that "Twenty months after staying in an emergency shelter with their families, children scored worse in pre-reading skills and had higher rates of overall behavior problems and early development delays compared to national norms for children their age." Read more here.
Outside in America is a year-long series on homelessness in the western US. The project focuses on people on the frontline of a devastating crisis and enables readers to take action to help solve the problem. The series, published by The Guardian and supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, seeks to answer such questions as: Why are there so many homeless people on the streets in the United States? What can we learn from their stories? And what can you, the readers, do to improve the situation? To learn more and access the series, click here.
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