By Joe Hong and Erica Yee. CalMatters. Bay City News.
As the number of homeless students in California public schools continues to rise to pre-pandemic levels, experts and educators fear that the current economy, coupled with the state's relentless housing crisis, will lead to unprecedented rates of youth homeless.
According to updated data released today by the California Department of Education, there are about 5.9 million students enrolled in public schools this school year, about 40,000 fewer students than last year or a 0.7 percent drop. But the number of homeless students increased by 9 percent, to about 16,000, to a total of about 187,000 children.
The leading cause of homelessness among all Californians is the state's perennial shortage of affordable housing, according to Angela James, a researcher at the UCLA Center for School Transformation.
"It's alarming to me, frankly," James said. "Housing instability may be deepening in California as a result of the pandemic."
The new data signals a return to pre-pandemic numbers. Last school year, about 2.9 percent of students qualified as homeless. The percentage has risen to 3.2 percent this year, about the same as in 2019-20.
“As a state, we have not made the housing and well-being of our population a priority,” James noted. "Unfortunately, social policies have not responded to the needs of young people and their families."
Experts struggle to explain why the number of homeless people fell during the pandemic. They said the students and their families may have been moving during the first few months of quarantine, so they may not have been counted. Or homeless students may have been falling through the cracks.
"In some cases, districts may be getting better at identifying students," said Dion Burns, principal investigator at the Learning Policy Institute.
Student homelessness increased this year for the first time since 2020. The count includes students living in motels, trailer parks, campgrounds or public spaces.
While statewide numbers indicate a return to pre-pandemic levels, 13 of the state's 20 largest districts have more homeless students now than in the 2019-20 school year. In one district, Kern High, the number more than doubled.
Since 2015, homelessness rates gradually increased until 2020, when they began to steadily decline. Student homelessness increased this year for the first time since 2020.
The California Department of Education uses a federal definition of homeless that includes students living in motels, trailer parks, campgrounds, or public spaces.
School districts and county offices of education employ liaisons who monitor homeless students and families. James said they are often short-staffed, so collecting data may have been challenging, especially during the chaos of 2020 and 2021.
At Monarch School, a school for homeless students operated by the San Diego County Office of Education, administrators have seen a greater need. Jesús Núñez, the school's director of communications, said that students are experiencing more housing insecurity in recent years, along with more mental health problems and trauma stemming from the lack of stable housing.
“If the basic needs of the students are not met, it doesn't matter what teaching strategies are used,” Núñez pointed out.
Monarch School serves about 300 students. The school day is longer, starting at 8 am and ending at 6 pm Núñez said the school offers more counseling and services such as art therapy.
“I think everyone at the school wishes we could do more,” he said. “We don't turn away a lot of students, but unfortunately some students need to return to their home school because space isn't available here.”
Many homeless students and their families have been evicted from their homes, James noted. She recalled her own personal trauma of having her family's furniture moved to their front lawn when they were evicted. Homeless, students and their families can go from one temporary shelter to another with no idea how long they can stay in one place.
"You can't underestimate the degree to which that affects a child," James stressed.
Fortunately, she added, teachers are better prepared to work with these students than in decades past. When a student misbehaves or even becomes violent, a teacher may try to calm them down instead of resorting to disciplinary measures such as detentions or suspensions.
According to new data from the state, the number of foster youth, students with disabilities, and students from low-income homes has increased by 2-3 percent.
The overall enrollment rate of decline is showing signs of stabilizing after plummeting in the early years of the pandemic. Kindergarten enrollment took the biggest hit, but it's starting to rise again. Enrollment went from about 71,000 in 2020-21 to about 130,000 this year, but state officials said that's partly due to the expansion of transitional kindergarten in the state.
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