School Used To Be A Haven For Students Facing Homelessness. Now It鈥檚 An Extra Challenge.

KUT 90.5 | By Laura Rice,

Published August 19, 2020 at 12:37 PM CDT

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For many students, starting a new school year completely online is an adjustment. For students experiencing homelessness, that adjustment will likely be even greater. And now, some homeless advocates worry that more students will experience with their education because of economic hardship resulting from the pandemic.

is director of youth justice at , a social and economic justice nonprofit in Austin. She told Texas Standard that it鈥檚 difficult to get exact numbers on youth homelessness, but said that those working with homeless youth have told her they 鈥渉ave all seen a jump in their numbers.鈥�

Schools provide an important safety net for many students, including those who rely on it for meals. One upside, Merfish said, is that many schools are still providing those meals even while they鈥檙e closed for in-person instruction.

But homeless students or those whose families are struggling with finances also often lack reliable internet access 鈥� one gap schools can鈥檛 cover while they鈥檙e closed for in-person instruction.

鈥淥ne of the areas that is more challenging is in connectivity - internet access - especially for our students who don鈥檛 have a device, or maybe their family only owns one device, and they have multiple kids in school,鈥� Merfish said.

Since schools closed during the start of the pandemic last spring, some districts with higher numbers of homeless students have started to track just how many and how often students aren鈥檛 able to log in to class remotely.

鈥淚n some districts, you had as much as 6.5% of students overall, where you had no or lost contacts with them from March when things went online,鈥� Merfish said.

There are provisions in the federal CARES Act to help students with access to technology, and Merfish said some local initiatives also aim to help keep homeless and economically disadvantaged students in school 鈥� money going toward internet hot spots, mobile buses and other devices. But she said they鈥檙e not long-term solutions.

鈥淚t鈥檚 definitely not a permanent fix,鈥� she said.

Web story by Sarah Gabrielli.

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