Who Are the Children Experiencing Homelessness in America?

In part 1 of this powerful S5E28 @schoolutionspodcast conversation, Erin Patterson, Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives at SchoolHouse Connection, pulls back the curtain on what homelessness in America truly looks like for children experiencing it. This conversation reveals how often the reality of a family experiencing homelessness is hidden, challenging common perceptions about critical social issues. 

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why 80% of homeless students are "invisible" — and how that affects classroom behavior and student engagement
• How housing instability shows up as fatigue, anxiety, and absenteeism (and what that means for effective teaching)
• The data gap between HUD's definition of homelessness and what schools actually see
• Why babies (yes, infants) are the age group most at risk of eviction
• How a pro-kid mindset and the right education strategies can be a lifeline
• The single resource Erin recommends for caregivers and educators who want to take action
• Why transportation is the #1 unfunded need in this space

Resources mentioned:
➡️Sara Shaw
➡️Harvard Center on the Developing Child
➡️Point-in-Time (PIT) Count
➡️HUD definition of homelessness
➡️McKinney-Vento Act
➡️Voices of Youth

Don't miss Part 2 when Erin takes us inside Congress to break down the legislative wins for children experiencing homelessness and how YOU can be part of the change.

📑 CHAPTERS
0:00 Introduction: What Hidden Homelessness Really Looks Like
1:45 Meet Erin Patterson & SchoolHouse Connection
2:00 Key Research: Harvard Center on the Developing Child
3:30 Sara Shaw: The Nation's Leading Data Expert on Child Homelessness
4:30 What Homelessness Actually Looks Like for Families with Children
6:00 Why Children Experiencing Homelessness Are Invisible in Shelters
7:00 The Data Gap: HUD vs. Education Law Definitions
8:00 The Point-in-Time Count Problem
8:45 Washington DC: 9-10% of Infants & Toddlers Are Homeless
9:45 Why Children Can't Learn Without Stable Housing
10:30 Erin's Journey: From Teacher to Advocate
12:15 "The Classroom Showed Me the Symptoms"
13:00 Lightning Round: Hardest Part of the Job
14:00 The #1 Misconception About Child Homelessness
14:45 If You Had Unlimited Funding: Transportation
15:45 Best Resource for Educators & Caregivers
16:30 Preview: Part 2 — Inside Congress with SchoolHouse Connection

📧 Connect with me as a thought partner!
🎵 Music: Benjamin Wahl

When coaches, teachers, administrators, and families work hand in hand, it fosters a school atmosphere where everyone is inspired and every student is fully engaged in their learning journey.

Transcript

Olivia: [00:00:00] What if the homeless child was sitting right in your classroom or next to your own child in class and no one knew. Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives at SchoolHouse Connection, Erin Patterson joins me again to pull back the curtain on what homelessness actually looks like for America's children. It's not what you picture and once you see it, you can't unsee it. Here's my conversation with Erin Patterson.

This is Schoolutions, the podcast that extends education beyond the classroom. A show that isn't just theory, but practical try-it-tomorrow approaches for educators and caregivers to ensure every student finds their spark and receives the support they need to thrive.

I am Olivia Wahl, and I'm so happy to [00:01:00] be back in conversation with Erin Patterson today. Let me tell you a little bit about Erin. Today, as the Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives and Partnerships at SchoolHouse Connection, Erin leads the fight to ensure our nation's most vulnerable students: those experiencing homelessness and foster care and the juvenile justice system have access to the education and stability they need.

And just weeks ago, Erin helped secure a major congressional victory that will keep hundreds of thousands of homeless students in school. Erin, the work you are doing is not only inspirational, it needs to be elevated, uplifted, and everyone needs to know about SchoolHouse Connection and how it's really impacting the lives of children everywhere. So thank you for coming back and having this conversation. 

Erin: Thank you for having me. 

Olivia: Yeah. Let's start off with some research that you lean on when it comes to your role. 

Erin: This is a great [00:02:00] question to start with. I have two that come to mind that I'd really like to elevate, um, with your audience here. The first is from our partners at the Harvard Center on the Developing Child, and they do a great deal of research and what they call developmental environments. 

And it helps to show that the physical environment around a child has dramatic impacts on how that child learns and grows and develops. And so one thing I'm excited about is that they, um, have researched and synthesized research that lets us get into more nuanced conversations about the impacts of homelessness on young children.

I think anyone would say homelessness is bad for everyone and for young children. Um, what this new emerging research starts to show is not only how different housing interventions have positive or no effects on young children, but also things like children who experience homelessness are more likely to develop asthma in the first six years of life. And so [00:03:00] pinpointing those specific physical, in addition to the social, emotional, and developmental impacts is huge I think, for the field to be able to say, here's the problem that we can start to solve. 

And the other research or researcher I should say, this is a bit of a shameless plug, um, we have a new senior research specialist at SchoolHouse Connection. Her name is Sara Shaw. She is the nation's leading expert on how we do research and how we collect and make meaning of data on children and youth experiencing homelessness. Her work is expansive in this intersection. It spans things like, um, how do doubled up living situations specifically impact young children? Um, what about the interventions that school districts are, um, implementing for students experiencing homelessness? How are they working? What more can we learn from them and so much more?

Um, and so we're thrilled to have her on our team and you'll be seeing a lot more of her [00:04:00] work, um, in the near future. 

Olivia: That is an amazing value add. Wow. And that's new since we spoke last. So I will make sure listeners, to tuck links to all of the goodness that you just mentioned in the show notes in addition to the link directly to SchoolHouse, because again, the work you're doing advocacy wise is tremendous. And you also, what I appreciate so much your posts on social as well. You give very uh detailed specific information that then you can let the public know this is what's happening. And so that it's extremely helpful. So Erin, I'd love for you, um, to paint a picture of what homelessness looks and feels like right now in the United States.

Erin: I think when people hear the word homeless, they visualize a setting like a shelter or perhaps a tent city in their community or someone sleeping on the sidewalk, and those are certainly all homeless living situations. But for families with children, it [00:05:00] looks different for a number of reasons. We know that about 80% of school-aged children who experience homelessness do so by sharing the housing of others. What we commonly refer to as doubled up. We also know that a growing percentage of families with children are hopping around from motel to motel a few nights at a time. 

That's because the, the idea of having to pay a full month's rent is overwhelming, but they might be able to afford a few nights at a motel at a time. So they are piecing together living situation after living situation, which means the child is shuffled between a motel or a friend's cousin or another motel. Um, the other thing to say about how homelessness looks right now is that a big reason families with children are often not seen in shelters is because either they live in a community where there are no shelters, which is a harsh reality in many places right now.

Or if [00:06:00] they do have shelters in their community, those shelters typically prioritize single adults and usually single adult males. And we hear story after story of families who are forced with two options: You can stay in this shelter if your family is separated, or you can find somewhere else to stay. So it's, it feels like a very fair, unfair, um, uh, choice for families to have to make. 

And that, um, I'll say we call all of this hidden homelessness because we don't see children in shelters. We don't often see them sleeping on the streets. Um, where they might be is trying to sleep in a car, in a parking lot somewhere or in a motel room or with, uh, in a stranger's home because it happened to be the friend of a friend of a cousin. And so the reason they are invisible, um, is because they are not, those situations are not part of the definition of homelessness from the Department of Housing and Urban Development or HUD. 

Olivia: Yes. 

Erin: Um, that [00:07:00] definition is more constrictive. It only recognizes shelter and unsheltered. Um, but education laws do recognize all of the broader homeless living experiences, but that mismatch means that thousands of children actually exist in data shadows unless their schools identify them. 

Olivia: I remember you taught me that last time that we spoke, and it was crazy to me because what HUD reports as numbers of homelessness is vastly different than the actual reality. What are those numbers right now? 

Erin: That's a great question. Um, so right now, uh, we're moving into February and you'll probably start to see a lot of news articles about the point in time or the pit count. Um, and those numbers will show I'm, I'm gonna. Just to show the difference, I'll make up some, some random generic numbers. They might show, for example, that in Florida 500 people are experiencing homelessness, whereas Miami-Dade public schools alone might have identified 2000 students [00:08:00] experiencing homelessness.

You know, so, and that's because the Point in Time count not only, um, counts, uh, people who are in shelters or unsheltered. They do it on one night of the year, and then use that to say, this is representative of the homeless problem in our country. And we know it's not. That it's much more expansive than that.

Olivia: So then let's go to DC specifically. Why does DC lead with 7% of infants and toddlers experiencing homelessness as a city?

Erin: And actually I think, um, we have updated numbers. I think it's closer to nine or 10% in Washington DC of infants and toddlers, and that's just ages birth through three. Um, if you add in the fours and fives, it's a larger percentage and it could certainly be driven by things like higher housing costs, other cost of living associated with being in a city.

And what we do know is those children and their families need access to housing, but also early childhood development services. And the other data point we [00:09:00] have for DC and every other state in the country, um, is that in DC only about 5% of those homeless babies are connected to developmental services. And so that's where we try and um, uh center our effort, um, because families with children remain left out of housing access, they remain left out of, um, uh, eviction prevention services. Babies are the age group at highest risk of eviction. If you can wrap your mind around that. 

Olivia: Crazy. 

Erin: So to me that nine to 10% of homeless babies now can easily turn into a higher percentage of homeless adults if we don't intervene right now.

Olivia: I think it's so critical for us to acknowledge that, you know, the school systems, the public schools do a, a great service for, for children nationwide and people don't understand it goes so far beyond the science of reading [00:10:00] or what we hear prevalent in education right now. Children cannot learn if their basic needs are not met.

 And so if we want a thriving society, then we need to take care of our children and their families because children can only calibrate and regulate based on the adult's level of regulation around them. So the, the work you are doing is tremendous. And what I find fascinating about your background and history, you didn't begin as an advocate. You actually were a teacher and you taught government and economics, um, at the middle and high school level. So share a little bit about that experience with listeners and then how that propelled you into the advocacy work. 

Erin: I will say it is true my title was teacher, but I truly believe every single teacher in our country is an advocate for every student that they teach, whether they realize it going into it or not.

Olivia: I agree. 

Erin: Uh, here I saw [00:11:00] so much goodness in the classroom, um, and among my fellow teachers, um, it teaching made this crystal clear to me that a 1-year-old who might be experiencing homelessness now, in seven years will be a third grader who likely cannot read on grade level or perform grade level math, but it's more than that.

Um, you mentioned learning being so much more than the words and the numbers. It's about learning to regulate your system, learning to trust your environment, um, which children cannot do if their environment is constantly changing and if they are experiencing homelessness in different situations. And so I saw firsthand how instability shows up in the classroom, um, whether it's fatigue, anxiety, missed days without a concrete reason, um, and how quickly those challenges compound.

Um, and I hope that no one ever has to experience this reality. [00:12:00] of an eighth grader coming to you, begging you for a place to stay because his family kicked him out because he came out to them. But that is the reality of so many of our students and children, and that's one example of how homelessness might impact how they can or cannot show up in the classroom.

Olivia: Yeah. Erin, I'd love for you to share then what led you to move from the classroom into the advocacy work? 

Erin: I think the simplest way to put it is that the classroom showed me the symptoms and the most I could do as a teacher was put a Band-Aid on it but advocacy lets me work on the causes. Um, teaching one student matters, but changing policy can help millions, and that's where I wanted to get in the game a little bit more.

Olivia: Yeah, you, you're inspiring me so much because the work I'm doing, uh, in many high schools is helping the kids see that they have so much voice. And that I, I don't like the word necessarily, we're [00:13:00] empowering kids, but I want them to feel that agency that they can do so much, and so I appreciate you saying, you know, yeah, it feels like a Band-Aid sometimes, I think when we're in the classroom, but the policy is where we create change.

Listeners, I also want you to know in part two of our conversation, we are going to go in depth with the policy changes that you are making and shifting for the benefit of our children. We're gonna wrap part one with a lightning round and I'd love for your just gut responses to these questions. Um, what do you feel right now is the hardest part of your job?

Erin: The hardest part right now is hearing from students and parents who need help now, knowing that they will be rejected for housing assistance. 

Olivia: How do they know? How do you know out of the gate that they'll be rejected? 

Erin: Because they don't fit that HUD definition of [00:14:00] homelessness.

Olivia: So that's a huge part. And I know, I think the last time we spoke too, you had talked about potentially getting HUD to change their definition and we're still working on that, but we're not giving up. Um, what's one misconception we have about homelessness outside of the hidden homelessness that we see? 

Erin: One misconception that I still hear often is children don't experience homelessness. Um, just because we can't see them doesn't mean they don't exist. Um, and most people have met a homeless child without knowing that they are experiencing homelessness. And most people have experienced the impacts of homelessness on a child without knowing that that's what's impacting them. 

Olivia: That's fascinating. If you had unlimited funding, where would you start? 

Erin: Transportation. Without a doubt. Transportation. The, one of the, the root causes of almost [00:15:00] every issue we are met with in the field is that a child or a student cannot get to where they need to go because they don't have the transportation resources, whether it's a car or a bus pass or whatever means even working with states like Alaska and Hawaii, they have to get even more creative because of their geography. We need better transportation in general in this country, and we need money to make it more readily available to families experiencing homelessness. 

Olivia: I never would've thought of that. And that's, that's something we can do. I mean, the, the solutions you're offering, we could all be a part of making this happen. That's so interesting. Um, is there a book or resource that you would recommend to caregivers or people that want to get involved in this work? 

Erin: If you wanna get involved, my recommendation would be to read anything written by someone with lived experience. And so for us right now, we have a youth scholarship program. We have our [00:16:00] Voices of Youth on our website. You can read their stories, their blogs. That's the first place I would recommend going. 

Olivia: Yeah, those are beautiful by the way, just hearing the stories because that's how we actually can empathize and understand our next action. So it's that from empathy to action move that, and I also, I think often, um, for children to hear the stories of other kids and what they're experiencing in other families, it's so critical for kids that have no concept of what's actually going on in the country.

Erin: It is, it could be quite literally life changing for many.

Olivia: Yeah, I agree. Erin. Thank you. Uh, we're gonna wrap part one there, and then again, part two, we're going to go much more in depth with the different policies and the work that SchoolHouse Connection is doing to change the lives of children experiencing homelessness. Thank you. 

Erin: Thank you.

Olivia: That's a wrap on part one with the remarkable Erin Patterson. I am sure this [00:17:00] conversation resonated with you, and I ask that you share it because the more people who understand what hidden homelessness actually looks like, the harder it becomes to ignore. I would recommend sharing the SchoolHouse Connection website where you and others can read the voices of youth.

Those are the real stories written by young people who have lived this in part two releasing on Friday. Erin takes us inside the halls of Congress to break down the wins that SchoolHouse Connection has fought for. She also speaks to the legislation that could change everything for homeless children and families, and how you can be a part of making it happen. See you then.