Many of our helpline calls are used to determine initial eligibility. Unique situations can often make it difficult to determine whether a student is eligible for McKinney-Vento designation. The NYS TEACHS Helpline exists to support district liaisons in determining eligibility for students in unique circumstances and considers each situation on a case by case basis. Please call the Helpline at 800-388-2014 for assistance in determination.
The Tale
A McKinney-Vento district liaison called the NYS TEACHS Helpline for proactive support in determining whether or not a family was eligible for McKinney-Vento designation. This family has triplets in the 11th grade and had been living in permanent housing, renting an apartment, when they were given two choices:
Pay increased $600 in monthly rent OR
Face eviction if they were unable to pay the increased rent.
The family cannot pay the additional rent, which created financial hardship. The family reached out to the district liaison for support and the liaison had to decide whether this family facing eviction was McKinney-Vento eligible.
Is this family McKinney-Vento eligible?
Questions to Consider:
Is the family McKinney-Vento eligible when they receive an eviction notice?
Is an increase in rent something that could qualify a family for McKinney-Vento services?
How can you, as the district liaison, proactively support the family even though they don’t qualify for services yet?
Answers:
1) While eviction can be a homelessness-causing event, an eviction notice does not always mean homelessness or McKinney-Vento eligibility. The family has not yet been evicted and is actively seeking housing, therefore, they are not currently eligible for McKinney-Vento services.
Under the McKinney-Vento Act (42 U.S.C. 11434a), a homeless child or youth is defined as one who lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence. While eviction is often an event that leads to homelessness, McKinney-Vento eligibility does not apply until the family has actually lost their housing. As such, unless the family is officially evicted or otherwise without stable housing, they are not eligible for McKinney-Vento services.
If the family does get formally evicted, and become homeless/temporarily housed, the children will then be eligible for McKinney-Vento services, and they can receive transportation and enrollment assistance if needed.
2) The McKinney-Vento Act definition of homelessness includes “children and youths who are sharing the housing of other persons due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or similar reason” (42 U.S.C. § 11434a(2).
While the increase in rent itself may not qualify a family for McKinney-Vento, the result of the increase might. If the increase in rent causes financial hardship for the family, and they lose their housing because of it, then this would qualify as a homelessness-causing event and the family would be eligible for McKinney-Vento services.
3) In this scenario, it was in the best interest of the children to remain in their current school and to receive as much educational and school stability as possible. While McKinney-Vento services cannot be provided until the family is actually homeless, we understand the importance of minimizing disruption in the children's education, and we support efforts to keep the children enrolled in their current district until housing stability is secured.
This district liaison worked proactively to help provide resources and aid the family in finding housing (going above and beyond!), including finding a 3-bedroom, 1-bath in the district that fits their budget. However, the mother expressed a preference for a 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom apartment. While it is understandable that the family has preferences, the current housing option may still be considered "adequate" under McKinney-Vento guidelines, even though it doesn't meet all of the mother's preferences. If the family can find adequate housing before the eviction, they would go from “permanent” to “permanent” housing and would not be considered McKinney-Vento eligible. However, if the new permanent housing was in the district, the students would continue to attend their school district of origin and receive the benefits of uninterrupted educational stability.
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