Defining the grey area: Improving our understanding of PIT and school definitions of homelessness

Senate bill S. 2653, the Homeless Children and Youth Act, hopes to amend the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act to redefine homelessness to include children, youth and families who are temporarily sharing the housing of another person due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or other similar reason as well as those staying in the room of a motel or hotel.

This definitional change will bring the fedeal definition of homelessness more in line with that used by schools and school based programs. Roughly 75% of children registered as homeless through local school systems fall outside the federal definition of homelessness used in Point-in-Time Count data, as they are doubled-up or temporarily residing with others.  This means that these families and children exist outside of national estimates of homelessness reported in the AHAR (Annual Homeless Assessment Report).

Applied Survey Research has worked with school distrcits to improve data collected on unaccompanied children and youth in Point-in-Time counts by using existing data systems, school staff and telephone interviews to determined where families and children are residing on the night of local Point-in-Time counts. Essentially validating the child or family's homeless status for thier inclustion or exclusion in the Point-inTime Count.

Using data collected during the 2015 Point-in-Time count, this presentation explores the relationship between school-based data and the existing Point-in-Time Count definitions.  The study explores Point-in-Time Count data collected on children and families registered with local school districts in multiple California counties to explore how the current definitions differ from one another, how seasonality and time affect school data and challenges to future data collection many communities will be presented with if the act passes.  Finally, we will assess how this definitional change may affect the overall number of families and children experiencing homelessness reported at the national level.