The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act

The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act was authorized in 1987 to address any barriers that children and youth who are experiencing homelessness may have when they attempt to enroll and attend school.  It also addresses barriers in succeeding in school.  It was recently reauthorized in December, 2015 when the Every Student Succeeds Act was signed.  

The McKinney-Vento Definition of Homeless

Subtitle VII-B of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act  defines homeless as follows:The term "homeless children and youths"--

(A) means individuals who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence (within the meaning of section 103(a)(1)); and

(B) includes--

(i)    children and youths who are sharing the housing of other persons due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or a similar reason; are living in motels, hotels, trailer parks,  or camping grounds due to the lack of alternative adequate accommodations; are living in emergency or transitional shelters; or are abandoned in hospitals;* 

    (ii)    children and youths who have a primary nighttime residence that is a public or private place not designed for or ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings (within                 the meaning of section 103(a)(2)(C)); 

    (iii)   children and youths who are living in cars, parks, public spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, bus or train stations, or similar settings; and 

    (iv)    migratory children (as such term is defined in section 1309 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965) who qualify as homeless for the purposes of this subtitle because the children are living in circumstances described in clauses (i) through (iii).

The term "unaccompanied homeless youth"---

(A) includes a child or a youth that fits the McKinney-Vento definition of homeless as described above, and 

(B) a homeless child or youth not in the physical custody of a parent or guardian.” (42 U.S.C. § 11434a(6))