Mid-Missouri school districts seeing hundreds of homeless students each year

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Each night in the United States hundreds of thousands of students are without a regular place to sleep.

During the 2021-2022 school year, public schools identified more than 1.2 million homeless students according to the National Center for Homeless Education. According to the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, the state had 32,969 students who were considered homeless that year.

"Post-COVID, I think we've really seen a huge increase in our students who are in housing transition and we've seen rents go up," CPS Chief Equity Officer Carla London said. "Sometimes our families are being notified that within 30 days the rent's going to increase by $500 and families just aren't prepared for that."

Columbia Public Schools and the Jefferson City School District have seen a rise in homeless students since 2021, while the Sedalia School District saw a drop in 2021 before going up again last school year.

The cost of student homelessness is hard to quantify. But a decent amount of the over 4,000 Jefferson City students getting free or reduced-price lunches are homeless, giving just a snapshot of how the costs of caring for those kids are passed on to society.

London said CPS has 439 students who are considered homeless and don't have a permanent place to sleep. Even though she says the number has "pretty much doubled in the last few years," she says that number is still likely an undercount.

"Unfortunately there is still a stigma around that," London said. "We do have resources that we can provide families, but it's difficult to come forward."

Those resources include clothing, buddy packs for food on the weekends and transportation to school.

The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act was passed into law in 1987 and establishes the definition of a homeless child in schools who qualifies for additional services from the district. The law defines a homeless child as one who does not have a "fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence." This includes children who are sharing housing with other family members due to financial hardships or youth who are living in shelters, cars or hotels.

According to the National Center for Homeless Education, approximately 84% of Missouri students during the school year 2021-2022 were "doubled up" and living with other family or friends.

The assistance from the McKinney-Vento Act for students experiencing homelessness includes transportation to school. It also allows children to go to the school they originally attended, even if their current housing is outside of school boundary lines. Per the McKinney-Vento Act, school districts must have a homeless coordinator to keep track of the number of students experiencing homelessness.

In almost the last two decades, student homelessness has increased by 79% according to the National Center for Homeless Education.

"Probably the biggest surprise is that every day, you're passing somebody who needs those additional resources and they may not look like what you would traditionally think as someone who is homeless but we have families and young people who are struggling," London said.

According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness during a 2023 count, 34,703 unaccompanied youth were found to be homeless. The organization found 90.6% of the youth were between the ages of 18-24.

Flourish is a shelter for homeless youth based in the Columbia area. The non-profit organization was started by Veterans United and has a partnership with Columbia Public Schools.

Flourish provides different programs for youth at different ages. According to the organization's website, it has the $aves Program which is available to fifth through twelfth grade students. It is focused on earning and saving money.

"We encourage the youth to open a bank account and save and [we] try and help them toward their saving goals," executive director Beatrice Stewart said.

The organization also has an internship program to help youth prepare for life on their own.

"We have a summer internship program where [youth] can do an internship and earn money for [the $aves Program]", Stewart said. "They get paid and while they're learning professional and personal development skills, they have a mentor and then we have emergency basic needs services for youth in the community as well."

Watch "Homeless in the Classroom" at 10 p.m. on Feb. 15 on ABC 17 News.