Apr 26, 2012
In each state, between 41 percent and 91 percent of the homeless students identified by the U.S. Department of Education (ED) are not considered homeless by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Nationwide, as many as 715,238 homeless students fall into a bureaucratic gap between HUD and ED. This is because ED, HUD, and other federal agencies have different definitions of homelessness, which creates a this barrier to serving vulnerable homeless children/youth and their families. This fact sheet outlines the differences and explains how the U.S. Congress can close this gap between federal agencies by passing the Homeless Children and Youth Act (H.R. 32). The fact sheet also includes a state-by-state chart of the percentage of students who are considered homeless by ED but not by HUD.