The UCLA Center for the Transformation of Schools’ March brief “Hidden in Plain Sight: Fear, Underidentification, and Funding Gaps for Housing-Insecure Students in Los Angeles County” details the findings of a recent research study on the perspectives of staff, such as homeless liaisons, district coordinators and county officials, who are responsible for supporting the population’s academic success.
The sample local educational agencies included Hacienda La Puente Unified School District, Norwalk-La Mirada USD, Rowland USD, Wilsona Elementary School District as well as the Los Angeles County Office of Education.
“Los Angeles County is facing a rapidly escalating youth homelessness crisis. In the 2023–24 school year, more than 61,000 students experienced homelessness, a nearly 30 percent increase from the prior 2022–23 school year, with Latine students (75 percent) and English Learners (34 percent) disproportionately affected,” according to the brief. “Despite federal protections under the McKinney-Vento Act, a significant gap persists between policy intent and frontline realities.”
The reality in LA County is consistent with state and national trends, the brief explains, as the issue has been exacerbated by factors like economic instability, housing shortages, ongoing impacts related to the pandemic and “heightened barriers for already vulnerable groups.”
For young people, experiencing homelessness can hinder their physical and mental health and educational outcomes. As schools are often a key point of connection to the services and resources unhoused youth and their families need, “School district homeless liaisons — staff designated to support students experiencing homelessness — play a central role in connecting families to assistance, ensuring academic accommodations, and navigating policy requirements,” the brief states. “Yet, their challenges are compounded by under-resourced systems, evolving administrative priorities, and persistent inequities in access and support, especially for students from disproportionately impacted backgrounds.”
Some challenges LA County districts encounter in providing effective and sustained supports for homeless students include under-identification and problems with data quality, funding instability, limits to systemic capacity and educational supports, and variations in perspectives and inconsistent application of McKinney-Vento mandates.
Among key findings:
- Identifying homeless students is a countywide challenge
- Student data used for tracking and verification is fragmented across platforms, which complicates the process for homeless liaisons who need to cross-check systems to confirm status and eligibility
- Identification consistently happens as a reaction to “acute crises” or via informal, human-centered systems of referral as opposed to proactive institutional outreach
- Fear of stigmatization or severe punitive consequences prevents families and students from self-identification
- Homeless youth who are unaccompanied often conceal their status by proxy enrollment by a non-parental caregiver
- There is a perception gap at play that results in families, like those living doubled up, don’t self-identify because they don’t feel their living situation meets the definition of homelessness
- McKinney-Vento specific funding is inadequate and there isn’t dedicated statewide money available for supplemental education dollars
- Reliance on expiring, short-term grants causes uncertainty around critical direct supports
- Because of the lack of dedicated funding from the government, most districts rely heavily on collaborative networks and community donations
Three recommendations to enhance support for this student group explained in the brief call for strategies to refine identification protocols, advance data integration and systemic capacity, and stabilize capacity and sustain financial support.
A companion brief, “Rising Numbers, Fading Resources: Students Experiencing Homelessness in Los Angeles County,” is available and will be covered in an upcoming blog post.
