Telling the Story of Youth Homelessness
Through Data: Innovative Practices at the
State and County Level
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Educating CA’s
Youth
• Nearly 270,000 students
experienced homelessness in
2012-13, 4% of CA’s student
body
• We have the largest share of
homeless students in the
country (21%) with rates
double that of the national
average
• Increase of 39% since the
2009-10 school year
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Methods
Data on student homelessness broken down by
county and state legislative district
 School district address used to organize data into
state Senate & Assembly district using “Find Your
State Legislator” website
 School zip code used to organize by county

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Key Findings
•
Over 1/2 of homeless students are in Pre-K – 5th
grade, 1/5th in middle school, and 1/3rd high school
Percentage of homeless students by nighttime
residence
California
Percent
Doubled Up with Friends or Relatives
86.1%
Hotel/Motel
3.9%
Temporary Shelter
7.1%
Unsheltered
2.9%
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Key Findings
Homeless students attend schools in urban, suburban, and
rural areas
• Though Los Angeles Unified School District identified the
highest overall numbers of homeless students (14,323),
rural Trinity County had the highest percentage of homeless
students (13.3%).
• Suburban Assembly Districts such as AD40 (San Bernardino
County) and AD7 (Sacramento) were among the top six in
overall numbers of homeless students, indicating the
geographic diversity of the problem.
•
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Outcomes

Big media splash!
 20+ articles up and down the state, interest from national
publications
Uncovered policy issues we hadn’t previously
considered
 Collaborating with legislators
 Increased awareness  action

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We Count! California
Statewide technical assistance project helping CA
communities conduct more youth-inclusive
homeless counts
 California Homeless Youth Project and the University
of California, Berkeley School of Public Health, and
funded by the California Wellness Foundation
 Sharing resources & funding with low resource &
rural communities

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Santa Cruz, CA
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Increasing Visibility
Multiple Data
Sources
COC PIT
Counts
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Increasing Visibility
COE/LEA data show extremely high number of
homeless children and youth
 HMIS (shelter) data show high numbers and
proportions of homeless children and families
 Family support services show growing needs of
families with children
 Yet, headline PIT count data in California show a
small number of homeless families and an even
smaller number of unaccompanied children

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Developing One Narrative
Coordinating and partnering to improve local and
national understanding
 Showing how data interact
 Keeping it simple
 Working together to improve outcomes

Schools
COE
Headlines
COC
Family
Support
Partnerships
PIT
HMIS
Knowledge
Outreach
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Working Together – Santa Cruz, CA
2009
2011
2013
2015
• COE was involved in PIT Count coordination and planning
• COE and McKinney Vento youth participated in supplemental youth count
• COE involved in PIT Count Coordination and planning
• Conducted validated count of McKinney Vento students
• COE involved in PIT Count coordination and planning
• Conduct validated count of McKinney Vento students
• Expanded survey for families experiencing homelessness
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Using the Data for Action – Santa
Cruz, CA

Updating the County’s strategic plan to end
homelessness
 Focusing in on homeless youth and families
 Developing partnerships with COC, COE, county staff,
community stakeholders and ASR
 Teasing out what we know about homeless youth and families,
where they are headed without local change efforts and how
everyone can work together to end homelessness in Santa
Cruz County
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Lessons Learned
There is a need to explicitly focus on homeless
students using research & data or their unique needs
will be missed
 Multiple data sources help us tell the story of youth
homelessness
 Collaborative work drives action

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Q&A
If you have any questions, feel free to email Shahera
Hyatt at shahera.hyatt@library.ca.gov, Samantha
Green at samantha@appliedsurveyresearch.org, or
Nohemi Macias at nmacias@santacruz.k12.ca.us
 Join our Google Group to learn more:
https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en#!forum/w
e-count-california

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