McKinney Vento Homeless Assistance Act

The McKinney-Vento Homeless Education Act legislation ensures that children and youth experiencing homelessness have full and equal access to appropriate public education and that they experience success in school. The McKinney-Vento Act defines "homeless children and youth" (school age and younger) as: children and youth who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence, including children and youth who are:

• Sharing the housing of other persons due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or similar reasons.
• Living in motels, hotels, trailer parks, cars, public spaces, abandoned houses, substandard housing, camping grounds or similar settings due to the lack of alternative adequate accommodation.
• Living in emergency or transitional shelters, abandoned in hospitals, or awaiting foster care placement, unaccompanied youth.
• Migratory children who qualify as homeless because they are living in substandard housing.