Determining Eligibility
The identification of students experiencing homelessness is essential to ensuring that families are afforded their rights under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act. Eligibility determinations must be made on a case-by-case basis, and it begins with understanding the definition of homeless under the Act. The resources below provide further information about making this determination.
The identification of students experiencing homelessness is essential to ensuring that families are afforded their rights under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act. Eligibility determinations must be made on a case-by-case basis, and it begins with understanding the definition of homeless under the Act. The resources below provide further information about making this determination.
Resources
Resources
Find resources from School House Connection, the National Association for the Education for Homeless Children and Youth (NAEHCY), the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty (NLCHP) and more.
McKinney-Vento Definition of Homeless 42 U.S.C. § 11434a(2)
McKinney-Vento Definition of Homeless 42 U.S.C. § 11434a(2)
The term “homeless children and youth”—
The term “homeless children and youth”—
A. means individuals who lack a fixed, regular, or adequate nighttime residence…;
A. means individuals who lack a fixed, regular, or adequate nighttime residence…;
and
and
B. includes —
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;
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…;
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…;
iii. children and youths who are living in cars, parks, public spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, bus or train stations, or similar settings; and
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…who qualify as homeless for the purposes of this subtitle because the children are living in circumstances described in clauses (i) through (iii).
iv. migratory children…who qualify as homeless for the purposes of this subtitle because the children are living in circumstances described in clauses (i) through (iii).