CHARLESTON, WEST VIRGINIA. West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin this week convened the state's newly reinvigorated State Interagency Council on Homelessness to hear from invited speaker United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Executive Director Philip Mangano. Meeting with Governor Manchin and Council Chair Arley Johnson, Director of Programs for the Governor's Office of Economic Opportunity, before the Governor introduced him at the Council meeting, Director Mangano thanked the Governor for his prompt action in signing a new Executive Order in June to strengthen and revitalize the Council. Governor Manchin addressed the new Council, indicating his commitment to their effort, and related personal stories of the impact of homelessness on his life as a young person, and how he had retained that concern from his early years. He promised support for the Council's work and pledged partnership with the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness. Governor Manchin is pictured here at the meeting as he handed over the podium to Director Mangano.

"This important step forward for West Virginia makes sense," indicated Director Mangano to Council members. "It is the moral common sense of the future to end homelessness for our neighbors, and it makes dollars and sense for the taxpayer." Director Mangano described to the Council innovations in 10- Year Business Plans, state investments, and results from other states, ranging from North Carolina and Utah to Michigan, Minnesota, and Kentucky.

Director Mangano and Governor Manchin are pictured here (second) meeting prior to the Interagency Council convening, with Council Chair Johnson (second from left) and USICH Team Leader Michael German (second from right).

The new West Virginia Interagency Council on Homelessness (WVICH) is charged to work with the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness and includes a stronger focus on prevention. The Council is to create by year's end and present to the Governor a statewide plan with short and long term strategies to end homelessness. The Council is further charged with responsibility to oversee plan implementation and report all endeavors to the Governor including an annual progress report each year. Pictured here is Director Mangano addressing the state council meeting.

"Collaboration between various federal, State, and local departments and agencies is critical to achieve a complete delivery of services, particularly in rural areas where resources are less abundant and separated by greater distances than in urban areas," according to Governor Manchin's Executive Order.

Members of the new Council are: Arley R. Johnson, Chairman, Governor's Office of Economic Opportunity; Nancy Bazzle, WV Bureau of Public Health; Elliot Birckhead, WV Behavioral Health and Health Facilities; Larry Blackaby, Division of Veterans Affairs; Zach Brown. General Public - 1st Congressional District; Lisa Burton, Education; William Dotson, General Public; Sandra Hamlin, General Public - 2nd Congressional District; Robin Holstein, General Public; Bobby Lewis, WV Development Office Department of Commerce; Larry Linch, Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety; Rick Martin, Workforce West Virginia; John Mendez, Cabell-Huntington Coalition for the Homeless; Marsha Morris, WV Bureau for Medical Services; Bonnie Pishner, WV Division of Children and Adult Services; Lew Tyree, West Virginia Housing Development Fund; and Amy Weintraub, General Public.

HUNTINGTON, WEST VIRGINIA. Housing First, which this week was shown in a new federal research study to be a successful housing strategy for persons who are chronically homeless, is becoming the model of choice for Huntington, West Virginia's initiatives to end chronic homelessness. Huntington Mayor David Felinton and key community partners this week welcomed United States Interagency Council Executive Director Philip Mangano for the dedication of Heistad House, the city's third Housing First initiative. Pictured here are (left to right): Mayor Felinton, Council Chair Scott Caserta, Director Mangano, and Cabell- Huntington Coalition Director John Mendez.

Present for the dedication event were Cabell - Huntington Coalition for the Homeless President Don DeBord, Coalition Vice President Katherine Clark, and Director Mendez, who organized the visit to the state and provided hospitality throughout. Board Member and Past President of Coalition for the Homeless Betty Heistad Barrett, Director of Development & Vice President Housing Development Corporation Larry Ellis, WV Interagency Council on Homelessness Chair Arley Johnson, Prestera Mental Health Services Director of Development Tim Morris, Huntington City Mission Executive Director and Pastor Pete Davidson, Heistad House Architect Nathan Randolph, Edward Tucker of Edward Tucker Architects, and Dorothy Turner-Lacy, Consultant. Betty Barrett of the Heistad family, which has been a commuity leader historically in supporting and contributing to solutions to homelessness, spoke about her family's involvement with the new development. Pictured here are (second photo, left to right): Council Chair Scott Caserta, Director Mangano, Betty Barrett, and Mayor Felinton.

"Today, a long held vision to create and offer housing to your community's most vulnerable and disabled citizens, is being realized," noted Director Mangano in his prepared remarks. "People who once lived the long misery of homelessness, exiled to the periphery of the community, are welcomed in the new expression of Huntington's hospitality, housing." Director Mangano joined an audience of social workers, providers, advocates, and student for a luncheon where he spoke about the national partnership being constellated by the Council, affirmed Huntington's direction, and encouraged attendees to examine the new strategies producing results.

Director Mangano's visit to Huntington also included an opportunity to meet with business leaders, where Huntington Regional Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors Chair Barry Taylor welcome attendees including downtown business owners, downtown residents, persons who are homeless, and homeless advocates, and described the Chamber's interest in downtown development and revitalization. Mr. Taylor also introduced Executive Director Laura Gilliam of the United Way, and other attendees were Jeff Smith of Allied Realty, Dr. Joseph Touma of the Palms Room, and Bryan Stepp of Huntington Banks.

IN CHARLESTON, the state capital, Director Mangano addressed members of the business community and media on the following morning, before keynoting a meeting of the state's new interagency council (see related story). The Charleston event was hosted by the Charleston Area Alliance at the Capitol Conference Center and included participation by John Ballengee, President of the United Way of Central West Virginia and four members of the City Council. Interagency Council Team Leader Michael German took part in both visits.

Pictured here are attendees reviewing cost benefit analysis during Director Mangano's presentation.

BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA. Alabama's largest city was last week the focus of next steps in jurisdictional 10-Year Planning as United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Executive Director Philip Mangano joined Birmingham Mayor Bernard Kincaid to discuss implementation strategy for the city's plan, which was finalized in May 2007. Meeting at City Hall, the officials examined models of business implementation leadership from other cities. Also taking part in the visit were James Fenstermaker, Director, Department of Community Development, Cindy Yarbrough, HUD Birmingham Field Office Director, and Don Lupo Director, Mayor's Office of Citizens Assistance (MOCA).

One chronically homeless man with heart failure and mental illness experienced 44 preventable medical hospitalizations in Birmingham from 2001-2005, with 36 additional emergency room visits, according to research in the city's 10- Year Plan. His inability to pay for and take his required cardiovascular medications caused his heart to deteriorate, leading to most of his hospital admissions. He accrued $334,275 in hospital charges, a cost absorbed entirely by the taxpayers of Jefferson County, Alabama. This finding by the Birmingham, Alabama, 10-Year Plan committee reflects the impact of cost benefit analysis for communities across the nation as they quantify the cost of managing homelessness, rather than ending it.

The Plan calls for development of Housing First opportunities supported by Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) teams and use of over 1,600 public housing vacancies. The Plan also proposes that the city develop a practical street outreach program that combines the successful "Drug Court" model of intervention with the criminal justice system and homeless supportive services (ACT Teams, Housing First Providers, etc.) and a one-stop mental health crisis and intervention center where chronically homeless individuals suffering from serious mental illnesses can receive appropriate and cost-effective assistance. The city is currently considering implementing the Project Homeless Connect innovation.

The Plan's five goals are: provide, develop and expand housing options for chronically homeless individuals, provide better access to support services that help them remain in permanent housing, reform policies that contribute to homelessness, institute policies that assist persons leaving homelessness, and build awareness and mobilize the community to help end chronic homelessness in Birmingham.

In July 2006, Birmingham became the third Alabama jurisdiction to commit to the 10-year planning process with the appointment by Mayor Kincaid of a 27-member committee, co- chaired by First American Bank Executive Vice President Norm Davis and Dr. Mona Fouad of the University of Alabama at Birmingham. The committee also included representatives of the Chamber of Commerce, churches and other faith based organizations, Cooper Green Hospital, the Alabama Power Company, the VA Hospital, and service providers.

Research by the University of Alabama based on intensive interviews with 161 randomly sampled homeless people and a review of the community's Point in Time Count found a 29% chronically homeless population, of which 76% were male, 73% were over age 40, and 20% were veterans. 54% of those identified in the Point in Time count self-reported a substance abuse addiction, 33% a mental health illness, and 18% reported a physical disability.

In 2006 Council Director Mangano met with the members of the Task Force to talk about their planning efforts and to share with them innovations and best practices from the Council's best practice resource, "Good . . . to Better . . . . to Great," gleaned from 10-year planning efforts underway around the country. Director Mangano noted that when community 10-year plans are "driven, shaped, and implemented by a business mindset that requires results and outcomes, we have seen dramatic changes occur. Visible, measurable, quantifiable change on the streets, in neighborhoods, and most importantly in the lives of homeless people."

Pictured here are Mayor Kincaid and Director Mangano.

WITH THIS ISSUE, the e-news begins a new feature that focuses on "what's working". In this series, we will provide detailed information on an innovation or new technology that is achieving results in ending homelessness. From cities large and small, wherever in the country, whether a simple approach or the evolution of an innovation, we'll offer you key insights into results-oriented strategies. This week's inaugural profile looks at the Street to Home initiative of New York City's Common Ground, under the leadership of founder and President Rosanne Haggerty. Street to Home incorporates strategic targeting of individuals and intensive followup modeled on the successful approach used in the United Kingdom's Rough Sleepers Initiative. The Rough Sleepers Initiative achieved a 75% reduction in street homelessness across England and prompted deeper investment in homelessness from Parliament.

Identify and prioritize. Assess and negotiate. House and retain. Those are the three key elements of the targeted strategy of New York's Street to Home initiative, a partnership of Common Ground Community and the Times Square Alliance, and the strategy has reduced homelessness by 87% over two years. In the last year alone, Common Ground's Street to Home moved 54 people from the streets directly into housing. The City of New York this month adopted Street to Home as the citywide strategy to reduce street homelessness by two-thirds within three years. Common Ground will direct all efforts on the streets of midtown Manhattan and throughout the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens.

First setting their sights on a 20-block neighborhood with one of the highest levels of homelessness in the city, Common Ground focused on securing housing for those who have been living on the street the longest and need housing the most among the average of 55 people on the streets and sidewalks of Times Square. Street to Home replaced the random "first come, first served" approach with a targeted, strategic process: identify and prioritize the most vulnerable individuals on the street, assess and negotiate housing options with those individuals, then house and retain.

Identify and Prioritize. Street to Home partners with Business Improvement District public safety officers or community outreach workers who - because they are on the front lines every day - have a thorough knowledge of the people continually living on their streets. These ambassadors are then trained by Common Ground in approaches to introduce clients to a housing team that will help them to secure housing. A simple tracking tool enables workers to differentiate between those who are consistently in the targeted area - "anchors" - and those who are transients. The role of "anchor" individuals in street homelessness was identified in the Rough Sleepers Initiative, with subsequent targeting of those individuals yielding greater success - a tipping point - in engaging and moving individuals in the surrounding area. Common Ground developed a research-based Vulnerability Index to take the guesswork out of outreach and offer a rational system for prioritizing the most vulnerable homeless for housing.

Assess and Negotiate. Because most people who have lived on the streets for a long time are suffering from multiple disabilities and are usually eligible for some form of housing subsidy, Common Ground trains service providers in how to assess for eligibility for housing, services, and benefits, and tips on expediting this process. With the immediacy of the housing offer in hand for the individual, Street to Home uses techniques derived from Motivational Interviewing and Trauma Informed Care in working with clients to negotiate placement into housing. Street to Home assesses each individual's eligibility for subsidized housing and income benefits and walks each person through the process of obtaining permanent housing- registering for disability or income support benefits, completing medical and psychiatric tests, and finding an apartment that fits the person's needs.

House and Retain. Common Ground has now helped more than 175 adults - who had been homeless an average of 9.9 years - move from the streets directly into permanent housing since the start of Street to Home. According to their experience, once inside, 90% are able to maintain their housing. Most individuals who have lived on the streets for long periods don't wish to live in a shelter but want and are successful in their own homes. Moving inside begins their reintegration into society. Some clients of Street to Home have re-established relationships with family members. Many are working or have returned to school.

A peer support component, the weekly "ShopTalk" session, brings together those working on securing housing to encourage and educate each other through the process. S2H progress is monitored through regular "street counts," and the charitable efforts and resources of a network of local organizations including churches, business groups and government agencies, are coordinated through monthly meetings and the use of a shared database.

A new component of the program focuses specifically on chronic alcoholics who have lived on the street for a year or more. Common Ground was one of 12 awardees in 11 cities under the USICH-HUD $10 million Housing for People who are Homeless and Addicted to Alcohol demonstration program announced in 2005. These resources have been critical to success in Times Square. 34 people are now in apartments with a 85% housing retention rate. Some of the most vulnerable individuals who had made the streets of Times Square their home are living in their own apartments now and are addressing health care needs, making strides toward recovery, and integrating into their new community.

The Interagency Council stresses rapid dissemination and the ability to replicate innovations as key elements of ensuring that emerging results-oriented practices are adopted and implemented based on results. Through the Common Ground Institute, BIDs and local service agencies from other cities can participate in the Street to Home Breakthrough Series, to learn techniques to implement Street to Home and produce substantial and long-lasting reductions in street homelessness. An initial two-day immersion in the process - taught by a faculty of housing placement workers and BID public safety officers who have themselves successfully implemented the program - and six months of follow-up supports a comprehensive approach to reducing street homelessness. Sites have access to an online community where best practices and lessons learned are shared by professionals with track records of effectively reducing homelessness in their cities. Common Ground just implemented a 3-week Street to Home Boot Camp for 50 new staff hired to implement the S2H expansion to Brooklyn, Queens, and more of Manhattan.

Observed Tim Tompkins, Executive Director of the Times Square Alliance, "Common Ground's focus on understanding the facts about the homeless population - how many they are, what their individual issues are, what service entities are interacting with them - and then following up with sustained, compassionate but firm support - has produced incredible dividends in Times Square, not just for the neighborhood, but for the (now formerly) homeless population as well."

Common Ground's mission is to end homelessness through innovative programs that transform people, buildings, and communities. Common Ground is one of the nation's largest developers of supportive housing, having created more than 2,000 units of permanent and transitional housing in New York City, Connecticut, and upstate New York. The Times Square Alliance (formerly the Times Square Business Improvement District), founded in 1992, works to improve and promote Times Square and provides core services with 50 Public Safety Officers and 50 Sanitation associates. The Alliance has supported the Street to Home project from the beginning, by collaborating through their Public Safety Officers who knew clients, to bringing in additional partners in the neighborhood, to financial support. They also co-sponsored New York City's first Homeless Connect with Common Ground. Common Ground is partnered with Catholic Charities Neighborhood Services and Pathways to Housing, and Common Ground is a member of the Manhattan Consortium, led by Goddard- Riverside, for its work in Midtown.

Across the country, new data continue to emerge to document the economic consequences of homelessness for communities, and the cost effectiveness of solutions that produce results.

In Washington, the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development this week released "The Applicability of Housing First Models to Homeless Persons with Serious Mental Illness," a new report from HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research that found an 84% housing retention rate for individual consumers after 12 months. The study collected information on demographic and client characteristics at baseline, as well as 12-month outcomes, including housing tenure, changes in impairment related to psychiatric symptoms and substance use, and changes in clients' income and self- sufficiency.

The new report, commissioned in 2003, examined New York City's Pathways to Housing program, Seattle's Downtown Emergency Service Center (DESC), and San Diego's Reaching Out and Engaging to Achieve Consumer Health (REACH). While Pathways is regarded as the leading model for the innovation of Housing First, REACH was established in 2000 out of concerns that vulnerable homeless people risked being displaced by the construction of a new sports stadium in downtown San Diego. In response, the San Diego County Mental Health Services Division successfully applied for a $10.3 million competitive state grant under California's AB 2034 program. The grant gave the county the resources to design integrated services for seriously mentally ill homeless people.

According to the report data, "The majority of clients were chronically homeless (88 percent), had a primary diagnosis of mental illness (91 percent), exhibited symptoms of mental illness or psychiatric problems (83 percent), and were at least moderately impaired by their symptoms at enrollment (97 percent of those with symptoms). Three-quarters of the clients had a history of substance abuse, and one-half of the clients were abusing substances at the time of enrollment. More than two-thirds of the sample (69%) had co-occurring mental illness and history of substance abuse. In addition, these clients had limited work histories, low educational attainment, and a high incidence of criminal records."

Researchers defined the Housing First model as having these distinguishing features: 1) The direct, or nearly direct, placement of targeted homeless people into permanent housing. Even though the initial housing placement may be transitional in nature, the program commits to ensuring that the client is housed permanently. 2) While supportive services may be offered and made readily available, the program does not require participation in these services to remain in the housing. 3) The use of assertive outreach to engage and offer housing to homeless people with mental illness who are reluctant to enter shelters or engage in services. Once in housing, a low demand approach accommodates client alcohol and substance use, so that "relapse" will not result in the client losing housing. 4) The continued effort to provide case management and to hold housing for clients, even if they leave their program housing for short periods.

Among the policy findings of the report were that HUD priorities of addressing chronic homelessness and providing permanent housing are furthered by Housing First programs, and that lack of conditions on housing may be less important than direct access.

IN MASSACHUSETTS, NEW DATA ON HISTORIC INNOVATION OF SUPPORTIVE HOUSING

Massachusetts recently completed an Urban Institute 3- part report on the 15-year old Special Initiative to House the Homeless Mentally Ill, created in the Commonwealth's FY 1992 budget and supported by then Massachusetts Governors Weld and Cellucci, the State Legislature, and the Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance, as well as then Boston Mayor Ray Flynn. The Initiative was designed to move homeless mentally ill people to permanent housing. Then Massachusetts Secretary of Health and Human Services Charles Baker, who supported the program's creation and expansion, observed that, when the state compared the costs of acute care at the front door of inpatient psychiatric units for homeless mentally ill people with the annual allocation for housing with services for this population, the savings are always on the housing side.

Using a specially created line item in the Massachusetts budget (5046-3000), the Department of Mental Health received annual increases of about $3 million to provide over 200 additional permanent housing units for homeless mentally ill people. State funds were used exclusively to provide support services to support tenancies of people who are mentally ill. DMH leverages federal housing dollars to pay for housing costs.

The new report examined the cumulative number of persons housed and receiving supportive services, as well as tenure in housing, and use of DMH inpatient mental health facilities before and after receiving housing. Data show a dramatic decline in hospital episodes among DMH clients who were placed in the housing, with those who were hospitalized in the two years following placement representing only about one-fifth of those hospitalized in the two years before housing placement. Episodes per person fell equally sharply.

In addition, according to the report, when hospital days - rather than episodes - are considered, there is also a strong trend. In the two years before housing placement, 146 clients with DMH hospital stays accrued 46,423 days. Averaging these days over all 453 clients in housing shows an average 102 hospital days per client in housing. DMH's cost, an average daily cost of $420 a day was $19.5 million over two years prior to housing, or $9.75 million annually, or 42 percent of the appropriation for the program of $23.1 million at the time of the report. In the two year period after housing placement, average per-client-in- housing hospital days dropped by 93 percent, from 102 to 7, also with a similar drop in cost per average client.

COSTS OF MANAGING HOMELESSNESS
Elsewhere, there were new reports of cost data associated with chronic homelessness and success in housing.

In Tucson, new cost research was prepared for the recent Tucson Homeless Planning Council conference on the Tucson 10-Year Plan. New local data revealed that downtown Tucson police officers spent about 200 hours in 1,070 "encounters" with people who are homeless during the month of April, at an estimated cost to the Police Department of $64,000. In addition, Tucson's Fire Department last year spent an estimated $2 million answering an estimated 3,000 calls - out of a total 76,000 911 calls - from people who are homeless.

In Victoria, BC, Canadian research has identified that local taxpayers would spend $1.4 million in Victoria, a city of 79,000, next year to pay for costs of litter, cleanup park security, landscaping, and related expenses, not including law enforcement. Officials estimated that it costs $410,000 to respond to complaints, address camping, manage litter cleanup and damage to plants, as well as handle security.

Another $465,000 in costs is projected for cleanup of the local needle exchange, needle pickup, garbage pickup, camper cleanup, washroom security and park cleanup and security. The fire department estimated that responding to beach fires costs $133,500, and the city's costs for addressing complaints were estimated at about $375,400 in administrative expense.

WASHINGTON, DC. Ten key best practices identified in the more than 165 successful, results-oriented, consumer- centric Project Homeless Connect events implemented to date across the country were the basis for the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness's September 6 national conference call for jurisdictional partners interested in replicating Portland, Oregon's successful family Project Homeless Connect engagement model.

United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Executive Director Philip Mangano welcomed participants from more than 14 states and 30 cities, reminding them that the welcome of "mobile hospitality" provided by volunteers and the immediacy of results for consumers are the key focus of Project Homeless Connect. Director Mangano cited his own experience in the establishment of the now 20-year old Cambridge Multi- Service Center in urging participants to take part in welcoming their neighbors to resources and opportunities that end homelessness.

Mary Carroll of the Office of Portland, Oregon City Commissioner Erik Sten provided expert assistance in best practices for engaging families, focusing on mobilizing political and civic will, partnership, event execution, planning teams, site selection, volunteers, resources, consumer engagement, media, and reporting data and results.

Portland last year implemented the national innovation of Project Homeless Connect to a successful family model and will next week convene a second family PHC event. Topics will include special considerations in planning for family participation, site selection, event scheduling, family engagement, partnering with appropriate services and resources, and consumer- centric practices.

Among the details emphasized by Mary Carroll was the timing of the family event, which was designed to coincide with the school year, allowing organizers to partner with schools for outreach. Outreach was also done through motels and other sites with door- hangers announcing PHC. Outreach efforts yielded a surprising result, as most of the families who participated were new visitors to services, not familiar users of local programs.

Hours of operation for PHC were scheduled to meet family needs, with a later start and finish time that would allow family participation and included both lunch and dinner offerings. With accessible family health care coverage in the state, family PHC offerings were tailored differently than for singles' events, with direct access to housing - including funds raised exclusively for the event - available to make a move to housing a reality. Family photos were among the most popular offerings.

Brad Hopkins of Denver Rescue Mission also described Denver's Family and Senior Homeless Initiative which recruits faith communities to mentor and support families who are homeless. In the last two years, the implementation of Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper's vision for the faith communitiy's role in the 10-Year Plan has supported 265 families on their move to housing, using the resources of 150 faith communities.

Is your city or county planning a PHC event? Be sure to notify the Council in advance if you want to be considered for review as an official National Project Homeless Connect event with recognized best practices to engage consumers. Send a message to nphc@usich.gov.

With summer vacation over and the new school year started all across the country, it is a good time to draw attention to the provisions of the McKinney-Vento Act that ensure access to education for homeless children and youth and also identify resources that can assist parents, children, and others in supporting those rights.

The Education for Homeless Children and Youth program of the McKinney-Vento Act addresses the problems that homeless children and youth face in enrolling, attending, and succeeding in school. The U.S. Department of Education issued a Report to the President and Congress on the Implementation of the Education for Homeless Children and Youth Program under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act.

As described by the Department in its report, State Educational Agencies (SEAs) must ensure that each homeless child and youth has equal access to the same free, appropriate public education, including a public preschool education, as other children and youth. Homeless children and youth must have access to the educational and other services that they need to enable them to meet the same challenging state student academic achievement standards to which all students are held. States and districts are required to review and undertake steps to revise laws, regulations, practices, or policies that may act as a barrier to the enrollment, attendance, or success in school of homeless children and youth.

Under the McKinney-Vento Act, every school district must designate a local liaison for homeless children and youth. The duties of local liaisons in each of the nation's school districts include ensuring that homeless children and youth are identified, enroll in, and have a full opportunity to succeed in schools, and receive educational services for which they are eligible. Local liaisons must ensure that public notice of the educational rights of homeless children and youth is posted throughout the Local Education Agency (LEA) and the community, and that parents and guardians are informed of their children's educational rights. Local Liaisons are also required to coordinate and collaborate with community and school personnel for the provision of education and related services to homeless children and youth.

Under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act of 2001, the term "homeless children and youth" is defined by the statute to include individuals who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence, and includes children and youths who are sharing the housing of other persons due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or similar reason; are living in motels, hotels, trailer parks, or camping grounds due to the lack of alternative accommodations; are living in emergency or transitional shelters; are abandoned in hospitals; or are awaiting foster care placement; 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; children and youths who are living in cars, parks, public spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, bus or train stations, or similar settings; and migratory children who qualify as homeless under the law.

Access to Education. Children and youth experiencing homelessness have the right to go to school, no matter where they live or how long they have lived there; they must be given access to the same public education, including preschool education, provided to other children. The law provides for children to continue in the school they last attended before they became homeless or the school they last attended, if that is the parent's or youth's choice and is feasible. If a staff member of a school sends the child or youth to a school other than the one requested, the staff member must provide a written explanation and offer the right to appeal the decision. The law also provides for children to receive transportation to the school they attended before the family or youth became homeless or the school they last attended, if the parent or youth requests such transportation. By law, children can enroll in school without giving a permanent address; schools cannot require proof of residency that might prevent or delay school enrollment. Children can enroll and attend classes while the school arranges for the transfer of school and immunization records or any other documents required for enrollment. Children can also enroll and attend classes in the school of choice even while the school and parent or youth seek to resolve a dispute over the selected school. (The school district local liaison for homeless education will assist youths with the dispute process.) The law provides for children to receive the same special programs and services, if needed, as provided to all other children or youth served in these programs.

Ensuring Education Rights in Jurisdictional Planning. Several helpful resources are available that can support intergovernmental partners at the federal, state, city, and county levels, as well as intercommunity partners engaged in State Interagency Councils on Homelessness and jurisdictional 10-year plans to end homelessness, in ensuring the education rights of homeless children and youth.

State Interagency Councils on Homelessness and jurisdictional 10-year planning entities should ensure that appropriate State Educational Agency personnel and local liaisons, as well as other state and local government officials familiar with homeless education issues and resources, and consumers themselves, are active partners in state and local jurisdictional planning. State Interagency Councils and jurisdictional 10-year planners can play a vital role in ensuring the regular distribution of the consumer and provider oriented materials described below that explain these rights.

Helpful resources on the education rights of children who are homeless are posted on the Council's web site at the link below.

email: usich@usich.gov

web: http://www.usich.gov