Overview of McKinney-Vento
The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act is a federal law that ensures children and youth experiencing homelessness have equal access to the same free, appropriate public education as other students.
- It removes barriers to school enrollment, attendance, and success.
- It guarantees immediate enrollment, transportation, and support services.
- It requires every school district to appoint a local liaison to coordinate services for homeless students.
Who is considered homeless under McKinney-Vento?Children and youth who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence, including those who are:
- sharing housing due to a loss of housing, economic hardship, or a similar reason;
- living in hotels, motels, trailer parks, or camping grounds due to a lack of alternative adequate housing;
- living in emergency or transitional shelters;
- abandoned in hospitals;
- living in a public or private place not designated for, or normally used as, a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings;
- living in cars, parks, public spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, bus or train stations, or similar places;
- living in one of the above circumstances and who are migratory according to the definition in Section 1309 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 [42 U.S.C. § 11434a(2)].