Fall 2024 Policy Brief - Transportation Innovations and Access for Homeless and Highly Mobile Students - Transit Interventions for Provision of McKinney-Vento Guaranteed Transportation

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by James

Fall 2024 policy brief examining transit interventions that improve equitable transportation access for children and youth experiencing homelessness. It reviews current policies across the United States, maps geographic distribution, funding, eligibility, and stakeholders, and analyzes nine case study programs. Findings address self-identification and stigma, lack of program longevity, mobility constraints, education barriers to transit use, and regional misalignment among agencies. Recommendations emphasize universal fare-free transit, durable funding partnerships, county-level supports, and fare-free youth rider policies for grant recipients.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages3

Reading Time8 min

AccessFree to download

Background

Goals and Objectives

Methods

Key Insights & Findings

Challenges of Self-Identification & Stigma

Lack of Longevity

Mobility

Education

Misalignment of Transit Agencies within Region

Recommendations

1 Fall 2024 Policy Brief Ruby Kosewicz-Strickland MCP 2025, PLUS Fellow 2024 Transportation Innovations and Access for Homeless and Highly Mobile Students: Transit Interventionsfor Provision of McKinney-Vento Guaranteed Transportation I. Background Within the field of planning, focus on interventions that improve transportation to schools and center equitable access for children and youth are lacking,(Bierbaum, 2024) contributing directly to tardiness and chronic absenteeism for students experiencing homelessness. A lack of consistent transportation can impede students’ ability to engage in academic and extracurricular endeavors, severing them from opportunities to stabilize their social circles and generate joy through expressive activities and sport. Transportation is guaranteed to students experiencing homelessness under the McKinney-Vento act, both to their School of Origin (SOO) and to associated extracurricular activities, such that LEAs must “provide services to homeless students comparable to those services offered to other students.”(CDE, 2021) However, the implementation of McKinney-Vento guaranteed rights can be stifled due to staffing shortagesand lack of access to funding, leaving students forced into a state of educational hypermobility – which can result in the loss of 4-6 months of academic progress per move. (CDE, 2021) In fact, students who move schools once are less than 50% as likely to graduate as those who remain in the same school for the duration of high school,(CDE, 2021) a fact with great relevance to the SEH population given that students experiencing homelessness are more than three times as likely to move schools each year than their housing-secure peers. (LPI, 2021) As such, it is critical that interventions be made to secure free and reliable transportation for students experiencing homelessness. II. Goals and Objectives: This research explores and documents best practices in transportation access for youth and students experiencing homelessness. Specifically, this landscape analysis documents geographic distribution, funding, eligibility requirements, and stakeholder groups involved in the orchestration and implementation of practice, with the specific objectives of: A. Highlighting areas of convergence between transportation planning, education, and housing security for K-12 students. B. Identifying opportunities for further research, programming, and funding applications to support transportation needs of students experiencing homelessness. 2 III. Methods This research analyzed the efficacy of current policies and practices responding to the transportation needs of unhoused students across the United States and made recommendations for policy and programmatic improvement and innovation. ● Thorough review of existing literature ● Environmental scan of organizational response, focusing on location, operating organization, funding source, eligibility criteria, and current operating status ● Informational interviews with transportation planning professionals and academics ● Analysis of 9 case study programs in California, Oregon, Washington, and Missouri IV. Key Insights & Findings a) Challenges ofSelf-Identification & Stigma: Given that HHM students are the only self-identifying special population, it is critical that nominal homelessness status isnot a requirement for service. Use of services provided only to HHM students may be stigmatized and prevent children & youth from utilizing transportation services if they feel it is othering or reveals their housing insecure status. b) Lack ofLongevity: Many currently operational programs supporting transportation access for students experiencing homelessness are funded by one-time federal ARP-HCY dollars, which have sunset by the time of this brief’s publication. While these dollars were useful in enabling temporary innovation, long-term funding must be built into these interventions. c) Mobility: Due to the h

FAQs

Why does inconsistent transportation affect students experiencing homelessness?

Inconsistent transportation limits students’ ability to participate in academics and extracurricular activities, disrupting opportunities to stabilize social connections. It also contributes to tardiness and chronic absenteeism.

What are the main challenges identified in the policy brief?

Key challenges include self-identification and stigma, insufficient program longevity after one-time funding, mobility limits across jurisdictions, barriers to using public transit for education reasons, and lack of coordination among transit agencies within regions.

What recommendations does the brief make for improving transit access?

Recommendations include ensuring free transit for all youth regardless of housing status, building long-term funding through partnerships with transportation agencies and local government, establishing county-agency provisions for highly mobile students, and requiring fare-free youth rider policies for all public grant receiving agencies.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by James