Nearly 10 percent of high school students experienced homelessness in Spring 2019

And that was before Covid took hold.  Surely was worse in 2020.

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-07/n-sn1070121.php

 

News Release 1-Jul-2021
Findings are three times higher than state education counts
Nemours

 

WILMINGTON, Del. (June 29, 2021) - A new report finds that 509,025 (9.17%) public high school students in 24 states experienced homelessness in spring 2019 -- three times the number recognized by the states' education agencies. This under-recognition creates gaps in funding and services needed by this vulnerable population.

Researchers from Nemours Children's Health and the University of Pennsylvania analyzed data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for public schools across 24 states and 12 school districts. During spring 2019, more than 9% of public high school students experienced homelessness during a 30-day period in the 24 states. The rate was even higher in the 12 school districts, analyzed separately, where nearly 14% of students reported homelessness.


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Homelessness was more likely among students who were male, LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender), Black/African American, Hispanic/Latinx, or Native American/Hawaiian. Students who experienced homelessness reported higher rates of sexual victimization, physical victimization, and having been bullied. Even when controlling for other risk factors, students who experienced homelessness reported higher rates of severe suicidality, hard drug use, alcohol abuse, risky sexual behavior, and poor grades.

"Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, we saw high rates of homelessness in public high school students and strong links between homelessness and other harmful experiences," said the report's lead author, Danielle Hatchimonji, PhD, of Nemours' Center for Healthcare Delivery Science. "The pandemic's impact on financial and housing stability will have even broader, ripple effects on mental health and academic functioning -- effects that will continue to disproportionately harm students of color."