Overview
Enrollment data for students experiencing homelessness illustrate the fluctuating, but often increasing, trends of housing instability among children and youth in Virginia and across the United States. These rates serve as a foundation upon which practitioners can respond to the needs of students experiencing homelessness. Additionally, they are useful to researchers and community members who are studying connections among homelessness, personal well-being, and academic achievement and developing intervention strategies. Links to local, state, and national EHCY enrollment data are available below.
Virginia Data
- Project Hope-VA data: The number of children and youth identified as homeless enrolled in public school at any time during the school year, by school division (subgrantee and non-subgrantee)
- Virginia School Quality Profiles: View reports by school, school division, or state-wide for Virginia.
Researchers suggest that approximately 10% of children living in poverty will experience homelessness. Project HOPE uses the Census Bureau Small Area Income and Poverty Estimate (SAIPE) to estimate the number of children ages 5-17 in each school division living in poverty and then calculate the local percentages (homeless/poverty estimate). Across Virginia, approximately 12% of children living in poverty are identified as experiencing homelessness. This map illustrates variations in students identified as homeless based on SAIPE levels in school divisions across the Commonwealth.
