Tale From the Field: How do you determine whether a student’s housing situation is eligible for McKinney-Vento designation?

We get a variety of calls on the help line about students’ eligibility for McKinney-Vento designation. Here are some examples:

1. Mom and her children move in with ailing grandparents to care for them in another district. Mom wants to keep her children in the district of origin. 

   
   

2. A grandmother who lives in another district takes care of her grandchildren after their mother is arrested.

   
   

3. A child comes from a neighboring district to live with your district’s football coach and wants to enroll in your district.

   
   

4. A single dad is going to be deployed. He arranges for his sister to take care of his children until he returns home.

When answering these questions, consider whether there was a loss of housing due to “eviction, economic hardship, or similar reason”? The answers are not always clear-cut. Below are some resources and steps to take when determining whether these moves were planned or not.

Resources

• Determining Eligibility for McKinney-Vento Rights and Services

• Confirming Eligibility Brief

• Housing Questionnaire

• Flowchart for McKinney-Vento Eligibility Determinations

• Unaccompanied Youth Eligibility Flowchart 

• SchoolHouse Connection Q and A 

• Guidance for Working with Military Service Members and Their Families Experiencing Homelessness 

Steps to take in order to answer these questions:

The district liaison needs to gather information to consider each situation carefully. Remember that determination is made on a case-by-case basis after gathering all of the facts. It is also important to remember to have conversations with parents/guardians/unaccompanied youth in a private space. Conversations regarding a family’s housing situation are personal. Families/youth may feel more comfortable sharing information and additional details in a safe space. 

Follow these steps:

1. Use a Housing Questionnaire when… 

   • a student/student’s family comes in to register the student for the first time

   • a student/student’s family reports a change in address

   
   

2. Determine if the living arrangement is …

   
   

   • Fixed (attached to the ground-not moveable. For example, an apartment or house is fixed, but a tent or car are not fixed.)

   • Regular (family/youth has a key to a place they can return to night after night, where there are no restrictions on when they can be there)

   • Adequate (there are enough beds, bedrooms and bathrooms for the people living there, there is a place for the student to do homework/study and access to a kitchen)

   
   

   The living situation must be all three—fixed, regular and adequate—to be considered permanent housing. Remember to focus on the student’s living situation (not the caregiver’s) and whether it is fixed, regular and adequate.

   
   

   Also focus on the reason for the move. Was it planned or as a result of loss of housing, economic hardship or similar reason? 

   
   

   If you are talking to a youth, focus on basic questions such as, “Why did you leave your last residence?” “Where did you sleep last night?” (from Determining Eligibility for McKinney-Vento Rights and Services)

   
   

3. Establish a process to follow if you need to confirm a student’s living situation.

   
   

   Per NCHE’s Confirming Eligibility Brief, the protocol should provide clear guidance on the following issues:

   
   

   • steps to take when working with students whose living arrangement might meet the McKinney-Vento definition of homeless

   • steps to take when information received about a student’s living arrangement needs to be confirmed

   • personnel who will be involved with further investigation of a student’s living arrangement is needed

   • the parameters within which involved personnel must act when confirming eligibility

   
   

   The brief also provides recommendations for how to conduct home visits if needed. 

Scenarios and Answers:

1.    Mom and her children move in with ailing grandparents to care for them in another district. Mom wants to keep her children in the district of origin. 

If there was no loss of housing and mom has kept her home in your district, then this situation is probably not M-V eligible. Mom and children are sharing the housing of others but it is not due to eviction, economic hardship, or similar reason. 

2.    A grandmother who lives in another district takes care of her grandchildren after their mother is arrested. 

3.    A child comes from a neighboring district to live with your district’s football coach and wants to enroll in your district.

4. A single dad is going to be deployed. He arranges for his sister to take care of his children until he returns home. 

These four scenarios demonstrate how eligibility determinations are made on a case-by-case basis.

Note that the McKinney-Vento Act requires immediate enrollment of McKinney-Vento designated students, even if they are unable to provide paperwork normally required for

enrollment [42 U.S.C. § 11432(g)(3)(C)(i)(I)]. Efforts to confirm eligibility should take place once full enrollment has occurred. 

Finally, even if a student is not designated McKinney-Vento, districts may sometimes allow a student to maintain enrollment as a courtesy to the family in situations that are temporary, but not McKinney-Vento eligible. These circumstances can be discussed with the registrar’s office or school administration.

If you have any questions regarding McKinney Vento eligibility please call the helpline! Wishing you all a successful start to the 2024-25 school year!