WASHINGTON – A program in Tacoma, Wash., providing housing for homeless families with kids in the local school district is one of four programs in the U.S. being touted as examples of what communities can do to help keep homeless students in school.
The McKinney-Vento Act mandates that school districts provide transportation to school for homeless students if any district in the state gets federal funding under the law. All states accept the funding. But as school budgets tighten, districts are looking for ways to cut costs of participating in the program.
A new report by the National Law Center of Homelessness and Poverty suggests that paying to house families near the schools is less expensive than paying transportation costs for the homeless students, who often are far from the schools.
In Tacoma, the Front Door Program, founded in 2007 as a collaboration among the Tacoma School District, Helping Hand House and Tacoma Housing Authority, helped nearly 40 homeless families with students in the Tacoma area find permanent housing.
The program saved schools $250,000, said Nola Renz, executive director of Helping Hand House.
Families with a child attending school receive housing assistance. Children are able to stay near their original school while adults are eligible for training that could lead to jobs.
As the family’s income increases, parents take on more of the living costs.
Renz called the program a holistic model that helps with such family needs as school supplies, child care, car repair and school sports fees.
“It’s a leading example of a community doing the right thing,” said Eric Tars, a children and youth attorney at The National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty.
But the program closed its Tacoma operation two years ago.
“It was very difficult to do, very heart-wrenching. We could see things happening but just couldn’t figure out a way to fund it,” said Renz.
Front door is seeking other funding sources.
The National Law Center report said providing permanent housing for students as well as transportation to school creates stability for a child experiencing homelessness, which could improve chances of educational success.
“Every time a child changes schools it’s estimated that they can lose up to six months worth of schooling and students who change schools three or more times see their graduation rates drop by 50 percent,” Tars said.
Aside from stability, Front Door gives families a sense of hope, said Renz.
“When they realized that we were really looking at the long term and wanting to kind of walk beside them while they were on that journey, they felt supported. They felt like they had somebody’s shoulder to lean on,” she said.
The programs required under the McKinney-Vento law are underfunded and schools often don’t get enough money to cover transportation costs for the homeless students, according to Bruce Hunter, associate executive director of the American Association of School Administrators.
“We just hope that people at the local level, people with good will, somehow cobble things together,” he said.