Actions | End Homelessness

Eliminate Child Homelessness

To: The President of the United States, The U.S. Senate and The U.S. House

Started by: Horizons for Homeless Children

At President Obama's press conference on March 24th, in response to a question regarding a new report finding that 1 in 50 U.S. children go homeless each year, the President said

"I'm heartbroken that any child in America is homeless....Part of the change in attitudes that I want to see here in Washington and all across the country is a belief that it is not acceptable for children and families to be without a roof over their heads in a country as wealthy as ours. And so we're going to be initiating a range of programs...to deal with homelessness."

This may be the first time in U.S. history that a sitting president has acknowledged the fact that many of our nation's homeless are in fact children. President Obama's declaration that "it is not acceptable for children and families to be without a roof over their heads in a country as wealthy as ours" is a call to action. While, as the President noted, we must help homeless families lift themselves out of poverty with jobs, this in itself will not be enough.

Sign the Letter

Please Help End Child Homelessness

Dear Representative,

We call upon the President and Congress to take the following steps:

Dramatically expand the availability of affordable housing, prioritizing homeless families.

Ensure that new investments in early education and care - in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and beyond - reach homeless children, so that those children can continue to grow and develop, and their parents can work.

Update the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's definition of "homeless," to include children and their families living in motels and in "doubled up" situations, sleeping on the floors and sofas of friends and family members.

Document the number of homeless children in the U.S. Previous estimates (1.35 million over the course of a year, Urban Institute 1990; 1.5 million over the course of a year, National Center on Family Homelessness) are most likely under-estimates. NCFH's data, as reported in the recent "report card" on child homelessness ("America's Youngest Outcasts") was based on the number of specific homeless children identified and reported by each public school district's homeless education liaison. However, this data represents only a partial count of homeless school-aged children in a given school district or state.

Establish programs modeled on Horizons for Homeless Children in other cities and states.

Fund the Education for Homeless Children and Youth program at least $200 million for FY10.

Only by taking these steps will we begin to move towards the day when there are no more homeless children in America.

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