WASHINGTON, Sept. 26 (UPI) -- Affordable housing for homeless families is more cost effective than mandating transportation for homeless students, a report released in Washington said.
The National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty report released Monday indicated the number of homeless students across the country mushroomed to about a million students, an increase of 20 percent since the recession began.
Because earlier research indicated students perform better when their school environment is stable, the McKinney-Vento Act requires schools to keep students enrolled in their original school and provide them with transportation, even if they move outside the district because of homelessness.
Those programs can be costly, law center officials said in its report, "Beds Not Buses: Housing vs. Transportation for Homeless Students." The report indicated it would cost a local housing authority about $12,000 annually to house a homeless family of four in a 2-bedroom home under Section 8. If the family had to move outside school district boundaries for temporary housing, the costs to the district of transporting the children range, on average, from $18,000 to $27,000, the report said.
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"Keeping kids stable in their education is important, but there's more than one way to do that," said Eric Tars, director of human rights and children's rights programs at the law center. "Giving an entire family housing thus costs ... less than forcing that family to exit the district, deal with the stresses of homelessness and transport the children back to their school of origin."
Maria Foscarinis, the center's executive director, said many communities aren't doing all they could to promote affordable housing.
"Failing to fund or create affordable housing just passes costs on to already cash-strapped school systems when families become homeless and have to move outside their district to seek shelter or cheaper accommodations," Foscarinis said. "We hope this report will help start to reverse that trend."
