Definition of Homelessness

Who is homeless?

The purpose of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Education Assistance Act is to remove barriers to
education for homeless/transitional students and unaccompanied youth and to provide educational
support and stability.

Homeless students are defined as lacking a fixed, regular and adequate nighttime residence,
including:

1. Sharing the housing of other persons due to loss of housing or economic hardship; or similar
reason

2. Living in motels, hotels, trailer parks or camping grounds due to the lack of alternative adequate
accommodations;

3. Living in emergency or transitional shelters;

4. Are abandoned in hospitals;

5. Living in public or private places not designed for or ordinarily used as regular sleeping

accommodations for human beings;

6. Living in cars, parks, public spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, transportation
stations or similar settings;

7. Migratory children living in conditions described in the previous examples.

An unaccompanied youth is defined as a youth not in the physical custody of a parent or guardian.
This would include any youth living on their own in any of the homeless situations described above.