Overlooked & Almost Out of Time - Pandemic-Era Funds for Children and Youth Experiencing Homelessness - February 2024

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Fahsai

Increasing homelessness among children and youth has outpaced schools’ ability to use federal pandemic-era dollars for homeless students. The report summarizes findings from a national survey of school district homeless liaisons on the impact and implementation challenges of ARP-HCY funds. It highlights rising shelter and unsheltered homelessness, demonstrated school-level benefits, and urgent barriers including deadline uncertainty, limited administrative capacity, staff turnover, and insufficient liaison inclusion in funding decisions. Recommendations call for deadline extensions and clearer guidance across federal, state, and local leaders.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages33

Reading Time1 h 23 min

AccessFree to download

Executive Summary

Introduction

Key Findings

Recommendations

U.S. Congress

U.S. Department of Education

State Education Leaders

Local Education Leaders

State Legislatures

Methodology

Acknowledgements and Dedication

OVERLOOKED AND ALMOST OUT OF TIME Pandemic-Era Funds for Children and Youth Experiencing Homelessness February 2024 Table of CONTENTS Executive Summary 3 Introduction 5 Key Findings 6 Recommendations 22 U.S. Congress 23 U.S. Department of Education 25 State Education Leaders 27 Local Education Leaders 28 State Legislatures 29 Methodology 30 Acknowledgements and Dedication 33 Executive Summary At a time of increasing and unprecedented homelessness – with more children and youth living without safe, stable housing than during the pandemic – schools are running out of time to use federal pandemic-era funds dedicated to helping homeless students. This report presents key findings from a national survey of school district homeless liaisons about the impact of and challenges using American Rescue Plan – Homeless Children and Youth (ARP-HCY) funds. It finds that: Child and youth homelessness has increased since the pandemic, creating a greater need for targeted support for students experiencing homelessness. The number of families in homeless shelters and visibly unsheltered increased by 16% in 2023, while the number of unaccompanied youth in homeless shelters and visibly unsheltered increased by 15% . Nearly half of school district homeless liaisons reported higher numbers of students experiencing homelessness, while less than a tenth reported a decrease. ARP-HCY funds have proven to be impactful in schools across the nation. The number of school districts receiving dedicated funding to support students experiencing homelessness has more than doubled as a result of ARP-HCY funding, reaching over half of all school districts. Schools are taking advantage of the unique flexibility of ARP-HCY funds to meet a wide variety of urgent needs in ways that were not previously allowable with other federal funding sources. School district homeless liaisons report many positive impacts of ARP-HCY funds, including increased school stability, identification, and attendance. Liaisons who reported they received ARP-HCY funds were nearly twice as likely to report an increase in student homelessness due in part to better outreach and more staffing capacity. Despite these positive impacts, a number of challenges are preventing ARP-HCY funds from helping vulnerable students at a time of heightened need. One-quarter of school district homeless liaisons surveyed indicated that they may not be able to obligate all of their ARP-HCY funds by the September 2024 deadline due to a limited amount of time and/or administrative hurdles. An additional 25% of liaisons were unaware their district received ARP-HCY funds, potentially making it difficult to meet spending deadlines. This is also a sign of a greater disconnect between school district homeless liaisons and local educational leadership. Staff turnover and lack of capacity also emerged as challenges across survey responses. Atthe state level, there was a nearly 50% turnover rate in the position of State Coordinator for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth from April 2021 to January 2024. Overlooked & Almost Out of Time: Pandemic-Era Funds for Children and Youth Experiencing Homelessness | 3 Even though liaisons are legally responsible for identifying and supporting students experiencing homelessness, they are often excluded from key decisions about use of funding. Of school district homeless liaisons who indicated that they may not be able to use all of their funds to help homeless students by the September 2024 deadline, 25% stated that not being a part of funding decisions in the LEA was a contributing factor. Many school district homeless liaisons are unsure if or how they will sustain services or programming funded by ARP-HCY; the majority will look to some form of limited federal funding to continue to support students experiencing homelessness. While the pandemic is officially over, the crisis of homel

FAQs

What problem does the report focus on regarding homelessness and federal funds?

Schools face escalating homelessness among children and youth while running out of time to use federal pandemic-era funds dedicated to supporting homeless students.

What evidence does the report provide about changes in homelessness since the pandemic?

Nearly half of liaisons reported higher numbers of students experiencing homelessness. The report also cites increases in families in shelters and visibly unsheltered and in unaccompanied youth in those settings.

What challenges prevent ARP-HCY funds from fully helping vulnerable students?

Key challenges include difficulty obligating funds by the September 2024 deadline, limited awareness of whether districts received ARP-HCY funds, staff turnover, capacity constraints, and liaisons being excluded from key funding decisions in the LEA.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Fahsai