A growing number of Latino K-12 students are facing homelessness. Here’s how the law protects them while schools try to track and provide for them

From providing free school-based lunches and connecting students to food pantries, to identifying short- and long-term housing options and arranging transportation to and from school, youth advocate Sara Palestino is always thinking of strategic ways to meet the needs of students experiencing homelessness in the Beaverton School District outside of Portland, Oregon. Right now, she’s bracing for a potential uptick in the number of cases due to wildfires in neighboring California, and the Trump administration’s deportations. 

“Our responsibility is to provide the services so the students can stay in school,” Palestino told ProgressReport.co. Palestino wears two related hats in the district. As the lead McKinney-Vento Liaison, it’s her job to ensure area schools are adhering to the McKinney Vento Act by identifying and helping students experiencing homelessness find shelter and long-term housing, while providing them with the resources they need to stay in school. In the very worst-case scenarios, she’s the main point of contact for assisting students into foster care. 

“Whenever we have natural disasters or big situations in our community where folks are displaced or moving in from other areas, we really have to think about our response,” she continued. For her, that means staying kind and positive, even when resources are scarce, or shelters have months-long waiting lists. It also means being reassuring, culturally sensitive, and politically aware, especially in situations where children or their parents are undocumented. 

“We know what it can look like. We know that children can go under the radar and be really quiet and not share what they’re experiencing, out of fear,” said Palestino. 

And while it’s no mystery that the current cost of living, especially the rising housing costs, is also contributing to the issue, identifying homelessness among Latino families can be challenging for a variety of reasons. So how can concerned families, educators, policymakers, community-based organizations, and even students themselves work to identify and support students in need? For the leaders of UnidosUS partner SchoolHouse Connection, it can come through a combination of data collection, understanding of current laws, awareness campaigns and advocacy for better resources. 

Understanding the data and defining student homelessness

Homeless students are protected under the 2001 McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, a federal law mandating that children and youth experiencing homelessness have access to a free, appropriate public education.

According to the latest data by the U.S. Department of Education during the 2022-2023 school year, there was an overall 14% increase (1.37 million) of homeless students in pre-K through 12.

“Across the country generally, there’s an overrepresentation of Latino and Black students who are experiencing homelessness,” said SchoolHouse K-12 Senior Program Manager Anasofia Trelles, adding that it’s especially notable in border states which tend to have large Latino populations. However, SchoolHouse Connection believes the actual numbers are likely much higher than the data shows. 

“The federal definition of homelessness includes situations you would typically think of — shelters, transitional housing, and staying outside. But it also specifically includes sharing the housing of others due to economic hardship,” explained SchoolHouse Connection Executive Director Barbara Duffield. “It’s not like sharing housing to save money. These are situations where you’re really there because there is nowhere else to go.” 

Many families are afraid of using shelters when they are available.

“They may feel the shame and the stigma of seeking shelter, they’re more likely to be in these temporary, doubled-up living situations that are very precarious, unstable, and challenging for the health, safety and emotional needs of students experiencing homelessness. But it’s also really hidden,” said Trelles.  

For example, Latinos are known to have larger families, often operating as extended units, so members might float between different homes to meet their basic needs. This network helps to share resources and provides bonding and mentoring for children and their abuelos, tíos, primos and others. While these arrangements might also seem like a good alternative to r acknowledging homelessness among families who are undocumented, they can leave students without a consistent living space to sleep, study and relax. 

“Not all of our population are undocumented students or families, but there is a population that is, so, one thing that we do hear a lot in that population is a family who has moved into an apartment that’s not an adequate living space. Schools don’t necessarily identify them or don’t think that they should identify them,” said Trelles. “But when they have no legal right to be there, at any given moment, they could be asked to leave and they could be in an unstable living situation.” 

Creating awareness

A large part of SchoolHouse Connection’s work revolves around raising awareness of these types of scenarios. 

“It means a lot of outreach in languages that people understand,” said Duffield, adding that it also comes down to allocation of funding for the issue. 

“We see a direct correlation between if the school district gets funding through the federal program and the actual numbers. When we’re reporting these numbers, we’re talking about students that get identified, and that may reflect what the schools are doing. Are they doing outreach? Are they the school personnel? Are they making sure that they’re working with all the community partners, including culturally specific partners, who are more trusted in the community than maybe the school is to help get the word out?”

The McKinney-Vento Act requires every school district to designate a homeless liaison who helps to identify these cases. But Trelles notes that this is a role with frequent turnover or one in which a person assigned may be juggling multiple roles in the school system. 

“It takes time to build trust with a family who say their first language is not English, and then to have a new person come in and then try to do that over and over again, and also train everybody like that is a huge barrier in and of itself,” said Trelles.

To bolster the chances of identifying and intervening in student homelessness, SchoolHouse Connection provides a website in English and Spanish, where advocates and liaisons can download editable flyers defining student homelessness and the rights of students experiencing it, as well as places to insert the name and contact information of the local point of contact. SchoolHouse Connection encourages advocates to not only share these flyers on their websites and social media, but to also print and post them at places of interest such as hotel lobbies and laundromats. 

Palestino is constantly thinking about these types of strategies, especially in light of this year’s California fires and fear of deportation.

“A lot of what I’m thinking about right now is how can we build community in our schools? How can we create a sense of safety? How can we inform the public?

about things to expect, about their rights, about who to reach out to when they need support,” said Palestino. “It’s about having a plan. When all their time and effort is going into how to get a meal on the dinner table or where they’re going to sleep, they

might not be thinking about what will happen If they’re detained and deported, who will take care of their children, and whether they have all the documents necessary.”

Regardless of age or l education level, homelessness is an issue that can and should be addressed with strong public policy and grassroots advocacy efforts. This Requires a lot of strategic planning and campaigning, not to mention patience.

How cuts to ED and HUD could harm students experiencing homelessness

SchoolHouse Connection and its partners are closely following the Trump administration’s attempts to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education (ED) as well as significantly overhaul the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). 

“While the requirements of the McKinney-Vento Act offer a level of protection, SchoolHouse Connection remains very concerned that other actions that the Administration is taking, such as pressuring staff to resign and placing staff on administrative leave, threatens ED’s capacity to actually carry out those duties, resulting in additional barriers to educational access and success,” stated a recent SchoolHouse Connection blog on ED’s potential dismantling. 

And in a late-February action alert, SchoolHouse Connection reminded constituents that the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) mass firings, administrative leaves, and contract cancellations could have devastating consequences to federal employees partially tasked with curbing student homelessness. That has already included cuts to 20% of the staff at both the Office of Head Start and the Office of Child Care, and there are threats to cut half of staff at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). According to a February 28 federal layoff tracker from Newsweek, nearly 800 HUD employees have already been indiscriminately fired.

“Tell Congress to stop the cuts and the chaos – children and youth need stability and support to survive and thrive,” stated the SchoolHouse Connection alert, before providing bullet-pointed guidance on how to reach out to members of Congress. 

Earlier this winter, Palestino provided some advice for staying the course of reducing student homelessness that is all the more urgent in this new political context.

“Maybe you don’t see progress in the first five days that you started working with [homeless students]. It might take a couple of months. It might take up to a year or two,” she said.

The important thing is to stay committed and keep in mind that school systems can and should serve as a home base. 

“I think one of the safest places for children when they’re going through that mobility or being displaced really is in school. You know, they get their education, but they also get a meal, they also get to be around people who care about them.” said Palestino. “We want to maintain that connection to school because we want to create that safety net.” 

To keep stakeholders up-to-date on recent federal policy changes surrounding immigrant children and education, SchoolHouse Connection has created an Education for Homeless Children and Youth (EHCY) Program fact sheet and an e-newsletter reminding everyone that immigration status does not affect McKinney-Vento eligibility. 

–Author Julienne Gage is a former UnidosUS staff member and longtime contributor to the Progress Report blog. She is currently obtaining her PhD in Anthropology in Florida International University’s Global and Sociocultural Studies Department.