1 / 156

Their Future Depends on it!

Their Future Depends on it!. Rethinking Homelessness. T exas H omeless E ducation O ffice. 1-800-446-3142 http://www.utdanacenter.org/theo. The University of Texas at Austin Charles A. Dana Center 2901 N IH 35, Room 2.200 Austin, Texas 78722. Welcome! NAEHCY Conference and Membership Info

libra
Télécharger la présentation

Their Future Depends on it!

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Their Future Depends on it! RethinkingHomelessness

  2. TexasHomelessEducationOffice 1-800-446-3142 http://www.utdanacenter.org/theo The University of Texas at AustinCharles A. Dana Center2901 N IH 35, Room 2.200Austin, Texas 78722

  3. Welcome! NAEHCY Conference and Membership Info Resource Packet contents Website Resources Contact Information

  4. Outline for Today’s Workshop • Awareness • Identification and Enrollment • Delivery of Services • Collaboration and Coordination

  5. 1. Awareness What do you know about homelessness?

  6. Awareness • Contributing factors to homelessness • Poverty Guidelines • Poverty and Children • Numbers of homeless • Shelter Living • Cycle of Homelessness • “Permanently Housed”

  7. Contributing Factors to Homelessness 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 CA NY TX FL PA U.S. The majority of poor families with children in Texas have one or more working family members.

  8. Contributing Factors to Homelessness • Domestic violence • Alcohol dependency • Drug dependency • Family disintegration • Lack of education • Unemployment • Lack of job skills • Underemployment • Serious illness • Natural disaster • Mental illness Lack of affordable housing • Lack or loss of economic support networks • Lack or loss of social support networks

  9. Affordable Housing Affordable housing =30% or less of the household income is dedicated to housing (rent or mortgage and utilities; insurance or taxes are not included in this amount)

  10. Affordable Housing • The key to understanding families living in homelessness is to think in terms of housing instability. • Housing instability exists when families do not have the resources to have consistent, reliable housing. • Families that have a high degree of housing instability will frequently bounce back and forth between having a temporarily stable housing situation and homelessness.

  11. Affordable Housing In 1970, there were 300,000 more affordable housingunits available than therewere low-incomehouseholdsthat needed them.

  12. Affordable Housing Today, there are 4.7 million morelow-income households that needhousing than there are affordablehousing units.

  13. Affordable Housing More than 14 million householdsin the U.S. have “criticalhousing needs” --they spend more than 50%of their income on rent or livein conditions that threatentheir health and safety.

  14. Affordable Housing Full-time wages don’t match the cost of housing.At $5.15/hr you would have to work more than 119 hours/wk (17 hrs/day, 7 days/wk) …… to afford a two-bedroom apartment at the national average. New minimum wage guidelines do little to impact this.

  15. Affordable Housing There is no state, county, or metropolitan area in the nation where someone working 40 hours a week at minimum wage can afford the Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom rental. Fair Market Rent is the fair price in a regional housing market for a specific housing unit, established by the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

  16. Affordable Housing Thousands of people commute to work to avoid the high cost of housing. Costs of commuting are impossible to pay if you are a minimum wage worker and only add to the housing costs.

  17. Affordable Housing A slowing economy with a “housing bust” like we may are experiencing will only increase the demand for rental housing and increase housing costs for low-income families.

  18. Affordable Housing People who have recently left“welfare for work”,but do not receive housing assistance,pay an average of 64%of their income for housing.(23% if they do receive housing assistance)

  19. Number of Persons Experiencing Homelessness Texas estimate . . . 52,000+ … on any given night.

  20. Contributing Factors to Homelessness • Domestic violence • Alcohol dependency • Drug dependency • Family disintegration • Lack of education • Unemployment • Lack of job skills • Underemployment • Serious illness • Natural disaster • Mental illness • Lack of affordable housing Lack/loss of economic support networks • Lack or loss of social support networks

  21. Poverty Guidelines What is the “poverty line”? Is it an inadequate measure of real poverty in this country? Tour Poverty USA

  22. Poverty GuidelinesUS Department of Health and Human ServicesFederal Register, Vol. 73, No.15, January 23, 2008 • Persons in Family 48 Contiguous • or HouseholdStates and D.C. Alaska Hawaii • 1 10,400 13,000 11,960 • 2 14,000 17,500 16,100 • 3 17,600 22,000 20,240 • 4 21,200 26,500 24,380 • 5 24,800 31,000 28,520 • 6 28,400 35,500 32,660 • 32,000 40,000 36,800 • 35,600 44,500 40,940 • Each addt’lPerson 3,600 4,500 4,140

  23. Poverty Guidelines To determine whether or not the federal “poverty line” is an adequate measure of real poverty in this country, consider how it is calculated:

  24. Poverty Guidelines The poverty line was established in the 1960s, based on the cost of feeding a family an adequate diet. At that time, buying food was consideredto require about a third of a family’sincome – so the dollar figure that the U.S. Department of Agriculture said would adequately feed a family was multiplied by three to arrive at the poverty line.

  25. Poverty Guidelines That method is still used today, even though food costs now typically make up only 21 % of a typical low-income family’s budget. Housing, childcare, transportation, andmedical costs -- many of the things weexperience in daily life– are not factored into the poverty guideline, even though these costs have DRAMATICALLY increased in the last 40 years.

  26. Poverty Guidelines The poverty line does not take geographic differences into consideration; it’s a “one size fits all” number, whether a family is struggling in … urban Manhattan,downtown Dallas, orrural Mississippi.

  27. Poverty Guidelines What It Really Takes to Get By in Texas (CPPP) finds that what a 2-parent, 2-child family needs to earn ranges from: $29,982 a year in the Brownsville/Harlingen area, to $45,770 a year in the Fort Worth/Arlington area.

  28. Poverty Guidelines Approximately 12.5 % of the U.S. population now lives in poverty -that’s 1 in every 8 people.If you consider only children, the number is higher than 1 in 6.

  29. Poverty Guidelines A minimum-wage worker would have to work more than 70 hours a week, 52 weeks a year, just to keep a family of four above the poverty line. 2.6 million Americans who work full-time all year long still live below the poverty line.

  30. Poverty Guidelines The wealthiest 1% of American households…… now own nearly 50 % of the financial wealth in the United States.

  31. Poverty and Children The younger a child is in Texas, the more likely he or she is to live in poverty. Percentage of Texas Children Living in Poverty

  32. Poverty and Children • Over the past 30 years, poverty has become a problem of childhood and children. • Children, especially young children,bear the brunt of poverty. • Children are disproportionately poor. • Children are more likely to be poorthan any other age group.

  33. Poverty and Children Children under age 6 are particularly vulnerable to poverty. Children living in families with a female head of household and no husband present (single moms) experience a poverty rate of 54.8 percent, more than five times the rate for children under 6 in married-couple families.

  34. Texas Poverty Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census, March CPS and American Community Survey

  35. Stereotypes of Homelessness FACT: 40% - 70% of the homeless are families. - National Law Center On Homelessness and Poverty

  36. Stereotypes of Homelessness Children are Homeless Children make up About 45% of the Homeless population. - Urban Institute

  37. Number of Children and Youth Experiencing Homelessness • 1989 - 272,773 • 1991 - 327,416 • 1993 - 744,266 • 1997 - 841,730 • 2000 - 930,232 • 2002 - 1,350,000 • 2005 - 1,450,000 • 2007 - 1,500,000 Nationwide estimates . .

  38. Number of Children and Youth Experiencing Homelessness Texas estimate . . . 190,000+ . . .not including the impact of the 50,000 + students enrolled as a result of Hurricane Katrina or the recent impact of hurricane Ike.

  39. Children are Homeless home / room / neighborhood / family members / school / community / possessions / security / safety / self esteem / predictable routines Children experiencinghomelessness experiencethe trauma of loss:

  40. Impact of Homelessness on Young Children • Compared with housed poor children, homeless children experience more health problems and other challenges. • Homeless children experience more mental health problems and receive fewer services than their peers. • Many homeless children have either witnessed or experienced violence. • Only 15% of homeless preschool children are enrolled in preschool programs

  41. The Challenge Before Us Children living in homeless situations may perform two to three years below grade level in school. For many children, every move costs them as much as 4-6 months of academic progress. Casey Family Programs

  42. p. 11 p. 13 Effects of Trauma on Homeless Children and Families • Enabling good decision- making by the parent/ caregiver/unaccompanied youth • Help students recover from traumatic events • Preserving the best interest of the child or youth

  43. Challenges of living in shelter situations • Mealtimes/decisions • Child play • “Lock out” times • Child care • Transportation • Other challenges… Loss of control and independence • Lack or loss of parental control/authority • Lack or loss of privacy

  44. Cycle of Homelessness Complications/Personal Crisis Start •Modest Resources •Underemployment •Fixed Income •Family Break-up •Job Loss •Health Problem •Earthquake •Domestic Violence •AIDS •Substance Abuse •Fire Conditions Result •Lack of Affordable Housing •Lack of Jobs and Insufficient Incomes •Lack of Support Services •Move Out/Lose Home/ Evicted Now Endangered Outcome •Job •Family Life •Mental/Physical Health •Safety •Homelessness Source: Mary Ann Weinacht, Ed.D., Assoc. Professor & Mary Nan Aldridge, Ph.D., Professor, Sul Ross State University, Alpine, Texas 79832

  45. When is a person no longer considered “homeless”? When they become “Permanently Housed.” • Developing a working definition for district procedures • Recommended time-frames to consider • Challenges of ‘doubled up” families

  46. A Quick Look at Homelessness In Their Own Voices Winter 2004 California Department of Education

  47. NEW! p. 357 p. 363 Scholarships and Financial Aid NAEHCY LeTendre Fund www.naehcy.org “FAFSA Fix” legislation See Fact Sheet Supporting Success: Improving Higher Education Outcomes for Students from Foster Care

  48. There are no easy solutions to the problems of educating homeless children and youth. • There are no legal remedies that will solve all the problems of educating homeless children and youth. • There is not a lot of money available for educating homeless children and youth.

  49. Schools were not designed to serve homeless students! • These children and youth live in situations that they do not control and we do not control … • We cannot change their situations … so …

  50. We have to adjust our schools to meet the situations in whichthese children and youth are living.

More Related