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Students Experiencing Homelessness - General Information

The McKinney-Vento Act was originally authorized in 1987 and most recently re-authorized in December 2015 by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). The McKinney-Vento Act is designed to address the challenges that homeless children and youths have faced in enrolling, attending, and succeeding in school. The McKinney-Vento Act ensures that homeless children and youth have equal access to the same free, appropriate public education, as other children and youths. 

Under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, the term “homeless children and youth” means individuals who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence and includes, but is not limited to:

  1. children and youths who are sharing the housing of other persons due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or a similar reason; are living in motels, hotels, trailer parks (on wheels), or camping grounds due to the lack of alternative adequate accommodations; are living in emergency or transitional shelters; or are abandoned in hospitals;
  2. children and youths who have a primary nighttime residence that is a public or private place not designed for or ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings…; and
  3. children and youths who are living in cars, parks, public spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, bus or train stations, or similar settings. [42 U.S.C. § 11434a(2)]

The term unaccompanied youth includes a homeless child or youth not in the physical custody of a parent or guardian.  [42 U.S.C. §-11434a(6)]

Questions regarding students and homelessness should be directed to, district homeless liaison, Theresa Shroyer, tshroyer@northernyork.org or 717-432-8691 X2040.

General Information