Roughly one in four California students experiencing homelessness are in Los Angeles County, according to the UCLA Center for the Transformation of Schools’ March brief “Rising Numbers, Fading Resources: Students Experiencing Homelessness in Los Angeles County,”
To aid in understanding the situation and identify potential targeted solutions, the brief compares the experiences of homeless students in the county to those in the state and nation in the five-year period between 2019–20 and 2023–24.
There are 80 school districts and 371 charter schools located in LA County (referred to as LAC in the brief).
In the county, student homelessness jumped from 246,480 in the 2022–23 school year (SY) to 286,853 in 2023–24 — an increase of 30 percent. This surpassed the recent rises observed in the state and country.
“The number of students experiencing homelessness in LAC represents approximately 4.5 percent of the overall student population in LAC, based on county enrollment figures,” according to the brief. “This spike in student homelessness in LAC outpaced both the state’s 16 percent rise recorded between SYs 2022–23 and 2023–24 and the national 25 percent increase recorded between SYs 2020–21 and 2022–23.”
Issues around housing availability and affordability as well as stronger identification efforts are some factors contributing to the uptick.
“Despite improved identification of students experiencing homelessness, liaisons have cited a critical issue: there is no dedicated, ongoing funding for their work, which they say impedes their ability to implement long-term programming, hire staff, and build out preventive measures to help families avoid homelessness,” the brief outlines.
Other key findings detailed in the brief include:
- More than a third of students experiencing homelessness in LA County and the state are chronically absent
- One in three homeless students are in high school
- Latine students are disproportionately likely to experience homelessness and are overrepresented among the population of homeless youth in eight districts with the highest homeless rates
- English learner (EL) students are overrepresented among the population of homeless youth in LA County and the state, outpacing national rates
- In San Gabriel Valley districts with the highest rates of homelessness, ELs represented up to half of students experiencing homelessness
- In 2023–24, school districts in the county with the highest proportions of homeless students reported rates two to six times higher than the statewide average
- Students enrolled in high-homelessness districts have greater school instability than their peers in the county and state
- Majority of districts with the highest rates of student homelessness have lower dropout rates than the state and country
- High-homelessness districts outperform their county and state peers experiencing homelessness in math and English language arts but lag in comparison to other students in the county and state
Recommendations for policy and practice are also laid out at the state, federal, county and district levels. For districts, some recommended actions are to allocate resources to schools that serve the highest homelessness rates; provide tutoring, credit recovery and extended learning programming; develop mentoring programs, counseling and flexible scheduling; offer transportation; and strengthen community and family engagement including outreach about McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act rights.
“Strengthening local data capacity and resource allocation at the district level is critical to sustaining and improving supports for the students and families most affected,” the brief states.
A companion brief, “Hidden in Plain Sight: Fear, Underidentification, and Funding Gaps for Housing-Insecure Students in Los Angeles County,” was also published. Read about those findings in this CSBA blog post.
