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Reports indicate a 35 percent increase in Pennsylvania’s

children and youth who experience homelessness

Are policy makers okay with that?

The number of children and youth experiencing homelessness in Pennsylvania has increased

every year over the past four years. For the first time in history, the number of homeless

children and youth exceeds 27,000 according to a Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE)

report. People’s Emergency Center (PEC) summarizes the PDE report to inform the region’s

leadership about this population.

20,556 19,914

22,61824,504

26,27327,724

SY 2010-11 SY 2011-12 SY 2012-13 SY 2013-14 SY 2014-15 SY 2015-16

Total # PA Homeless Children and Youth SERVED, School Year 2011 to School Year 2016

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Highlights:

Pennsylvania reported that 27,724 children and youth who experienced homelessness

were served in School Year (SY) 2013-14, a 35 percent increase from SY 2010-2011.

Most homeless students are living doubled-up (living in someone else’s house

temporarily) and not in shelters or outdoors. In Pennsylvania, 64 percent of homeless

students lived doubled up. Only 29 percent were in shelters, transitional housing, or

awaiting foster care placement; six percent were in hotels or motels; and 1 percent was

unsheltered. This metric should be of interest to those who use Point in Time Counts to

provide data addressing youth homelessness.

There were 6,765 children, ages birth through kindergarten, identified as homeless.

o Philadelphia identified 1,873 children, ages birth through kindergarten, a lower

number than the 1,999 children ages 0-5 identified through the homeless

housing system.i

All regions in Pennsylvania, with the exception of Region 1 (Philadelphia), experienced

increasing numbers of homeless students.

5,879 high school students were homeless in FY 2015-2016. Region 2 experienced the

highest number, and two other regions had higher numbers than Philadelphia. All

regions but one had more homeless seniors than Philadelphia.

Coordination between schools and agencies is the single highest service delivery funded

by the McKinney Vento homeless education funding stream, followed by school

supplies, clothing, and transportation.

65% of students remain in their schools. 20% had enrolled in two schools. 4% had more

than 2 moves.

Who should read this policy brief? Most importantly, policy makers need to understand

that homelessness among children and youth is increasing and that this phenomena is not

confined to urban regions. This data should also inform services provided by social service

providers, advocates and educators working with children and youth who experience

homelessness.

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PEC Commentary:

The fact that the number of homeless

children and youth increases every year

can suggest good news. In part, the

increase means that the authorities

whose task it is to serve and support

children and youth are doing their job.

School districts improve every year in

identifying and helping children and

youth. As districts hire more counselors,

nurses, and social workers, it is likely that

these responsible adults will help to

further identify and assist homeless

students. In addition, data collection is

improving, particularly around pre-

kindergarten. Now that the federal

government has improved the Head

Start and Child Care regulations, it can

be expected that next year, Pennsylvania

will identify even more children and

youth experiencing homelessness.

The fact that homeless children and

youth are mostly living doubled-up

should inform discussions around the

state’s strategy for outreach to this

population. Continuum of Care programs

(i.e., homeless housing system) use the

Point in Time Count (PIT) to make

strategic decisions in part because they

are required to do so by the United

States Department of Housing and Urban

Development (HUD); however, many

observers agree that the PIT does not

adequately identify children and youth

experiencing homelessness.

Pennsylvania municipality leaders are

working on innovative methods to

conduct outreach and coordinate

services.

o In Pittsburgh, the Homeless Children’s

Education Fund released an app called

Big Burgh (see

https://www.bigburgh.com/app.html#

/who) to be used by police officers and

others who find youth experiencing

homelessness on the street to connect

them to services.

o Philadelphia’s Philly Coalition for

Youth is developing a numerous new

approaches to reach out and support

youth. See http://bit.ly/2FqopMH

o Pennsylvania’s Education for

Homeless Children and Youth

Program supports local schools and

districts to support homeless students.

Advocates around the nation are

seeking to expand funding from

Congress. For state information, see

http://bit.ly/2G2kSkT and

https://www.facebook.com/ECYEHPA/

for more information. For national

advocacy campaigns, see the

“Education Leads Homes” campaign

at

http://www.educationleadshome.org/

o Most Continuum of Care programs

throughout the Commonwealth

(homeless housing system) are focused

on new ways to reach youth.

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Data sources: • Education for Children and Youth Experiencing Homelessness Program 2015-2016 State

Evaluation Report: http://bit.ly/2G2kSkT

• Data for school years comes from PEC's previous summary reports, found at

https://www.pec-cares.org/policy-publications.html which used reports from PDE

published in those years.

• Comparative data comes from Pennsylvania Department of Education:

http://bit.ly/2FhKH36

What does this summary contain? Key indicators found in the reports cited above

include:

• Number of homeless children and youth enrolled and/or served by the education

system and/or other community-based services.

• Number of homeless children and youth by region.

• Nighttime residency statistics for students experiencing homelessness.

• Academic achievement comparing 3rd and 8th graders who experience homelessness to

their peers.

Number of Children and Youth Who Experience Homelessness,

Pennsylvania:

The education system reports two different numbers

of homeless children and youth: those served by the

schools and those enrolled in school. The term

served includes all children and youth who are

identified as meeting the education system’s

McKinney-Vento Act definition of homelessness.

Students from Pre-kindergarten through 12th grade make up the enrolled category.

Caution should be used in comparing counts of students. Changes from year to year could be a

result from numerous factors, including improved outreach and identification as well as an

increase in the homeless population.

Keep informed on these issues by adding

your email to the monthly e-newsletter PEC

Perspective by sending your address to

poliyc@pec-cares.org, and follow us on

Twitter at #PAHomelessYouth.

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20,556 19,914

22,618

24,50426,273

27,724

SY 2010-11 SY 2011-12 SY 2012-13 SY 2013-14 SY 2014-15 SY 2015-16

Total # PA Homeless Children and Youth SERVED, School Year 2011 to School Year 2016

18,621 18,231 19,459

21,309 22,014 23,164

SY 2010-11 SY 2011-12 SY 2012-13 SY 2013-14 SY 2014-15 SY 2015-16

Total # PA Students Experienced Homelessness and ENROLLED, 2011 to 2016

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Number of Homeless Students by Region: See map below to identify regions.

All regions but Region 1 (Philadelphia) experienced increasing numbers.

Homelessness among children and youth is not confined to urban regions as Region 2

exceeds Region 1 (Philadelphia) and Region 4 (includes Allegheny).

Regions 2014-2015 2015-2016 Region 1 5,764 5,518

Region 2 5,267 6,041

Region 3 1,703 1,954

Region 4 4,333 4,716

Region 5 2,615 2,798

Region 6 1,249 1,290

Region 7 1,775 1,802

Region 8 3,567 3,603

Total 26,273 27,722

Number of Children and Youth experiencing Homelessness BY GRADE

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Birth to Kindergarten

Region 1 (Philadelphia) has the highest number of children birth through kindergarten, followed by Region 2.

1,873

1,536

289

1,147

832

314

368

406

6,765

- 1,000 2,000 3,000 4,000 5,000 6,000 7,000 8,000

Region 1

Region 2

Region 3

Region 4

Region 5

Region 6

Region 7

Region 8

State

Total # Birth to Kindergarden, PA, FY 2015-2016

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Grades 1, 2, 3

Grades 4 – 8

433

399

129

333

186

114 129

276

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

Region 1 Region 2 Region 3 Region 4 Region 5 Region 6 Region 7 Region 8

# PA Homeless Students Grade 1 to 3, By Region, FY 2015-2016

Grade 3 Grade 2 Grade 1

235 291117

256112 68 82

236

271337

153

269

10675 114

240

341

328

142

256

14477

109

252

347334

135

273

141

82127

263

402342

132

276

181

89

123

291

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1600

1800

Region 1 Region 2 Region 3 Region 4 Region 5 Region 6 Region 7 Region 8

# PA Homeless Students, by Grades 4 to 8, FY 2015-2016

Grade 8 Grade 7 Grade 6 Grade 5 Grade 4

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High School

5,879 high school students were homeless in FY 2015-2016.

Region 2 has the highest number of homeless high school students.

Six other regions have identified more homeless seniors than Philadelphia.

Region 1 (Philadelphia) has only the fourth highest number of homeless high school students.

2015-16 Served High School Students

Grades Region

1 Region

2 Region

3 Region

4 Region

5 Region

6 Region

7 Region

8 State

Grade 12 125 419 139 336 204 109 134 263 1,729

Grade 11 135 270 100 231 132 69 95 194 1,226

Grade 10 145 318 107 218 153 53 87 217 1,298

Grade 9 212 375 108 293 125 59 111 343 1,626

Total = 617 1,382 454 1,078 614 290 427 1,017 5,879

125

419

139

336

204

109134

263

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

Region 1 Region 2 Region 3 Region 4 Region 5 Region 6 Region 7 Region 8

# PA Served High School Students, FY 2015-2016

Grade 12 Grade 11 Grade 10 Grade 9

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Nighttime Residence: Knowing where homeless students reside helps provide

information to school personnel for their outreach strategies. It would also assist those working for Continuum of Care programs who are addressing family homelessness.

The overwhelming majority of homeless students are living doubled up at a rate of

almost double from students found in shelters.

Academic Achievement

Reviewing a sample of homeless students by 3rd and 8th grades, PDE showed how the students

scored on standardized tests. Homeless students in the 3rd and 8th grades have fallen very far

behind their peers.

A number of strategies around the state are focused on increasing participation of homeless

young children into high quality early learning programs, which could affect the outcomes of the

3rd grade reading and math scores on standardized testing.

Strategies to increase high school graduation rates might want to consider new interventions

14,127

6,302

1,353232

14,362

7,016

1,490296

Doubled-Up Shelters Hotels/Motels Unsheltered

Primary Nighttime Residence of PA Enrolled Homeless Students, FY 2014-15 compared to FY

2015-2016

SY 2014-15 SY 2015-16

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for homeless students.

Source of 2016 PSSA scores is Pennsylvania Department of Education: http://bit.ly/2FhKH36

34%36%

27%

3%

13.6%

25.5%

45.7%

15.2%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

50%

Below Basic Basic Proficient Advanced

Comparing PSSA READING results of 3rd Grade homeless students to all 3rd Grade students, FY

2016, PA

Grade 3, homeless students (N=1555) All 3rd Grade Students (n=125284)

52%

24%

18%

6%

24.6%21.0%

28.1%

54.4%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Below Basic Basic Proficient Advanced

Comparing PSSA MATH results of 3rd Grade homeless students to all 3rd Grade students, FY

2016, PA

Grade 3, homeless students (N=1599) All 3rd Grade Students (n=125420)

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29.9%

40.9%

25.2%

4.0%

58.3%

11.3%

40.9%

17.5%

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

Below Basic Basic Proficient Advanced

Comparing PSSA READING results of 8th Grade homeless students to all 8th Grade students, FY

2016, PA

Grade 8, homeless students (N=1102) All 8th Grade Students (n=123275)

71.5%

19.3%

7.6%1.6%

40.2%

28.6% 31.2%

10.5%

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

80.0%

Below Basic Basic Proficient Advanced

Comparing PSSA MATH results of 8th Grade homeless students to all 8th Grade students, FY

2016, PA

Grade 8, homeless students (N=1599) All 8th Grade Students (n=125420)

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The PA Department of Education’s evaluators made these statements: 1. The number of children/youth experiencing homelessness for more than one year is

increasing slightly each year.

2. Transportation remains the most common barrier statewide.

3. 65% of students remain in their schools. 20% had enrolled in two schools. 4% had more

than 2 moves.

4. Coordination between schools and agencies is the single highest service delivery

funded by the McKinney Vento homeless education funding stream, followed by school

supplies, clothing, and transportation.

5. 77% of enrolled homeless students were documented as receiving Title 1 services and

those services were often instructional support services.

i Philadelphia Office of Homeless Services

The People’s Emergency Center’s mission is to nurture families, strengthen neighborhoods

and drive change in West Philadelphia. PEC offers more than 250 affordable housing units,

job training, parenting and early childhood education, financial education and planning,

life skills and technology coursework. PEC seeks to change the life trajectory for the

women and children who seek its services and inspire them to aspire to new heights. All

inquiries can be sent to policy@pec-cares.org.