1 in 30 American Kids is Homeless. That's about 2.5 Million Children.
November 26, 2015 11:19 AM   Subscribe

 
Thank you for this post. I'm going through a difficult time atm and all the links really help.
posted by chrono_rabbit at 1:00 PM on November 26, 2015 [1 favorite]


I dated a guy in university who was not homeless but was an international student and so was technically homeless when the residence closed for the Christmas holidays. Other people on his floor invited him home but I liked the idea in the article to have year round residences. Or at least they shouldn't close over shorter breaks during the scholastic year
posted by biggreenplant at 5:18 PM on November 26, 2015 [2 favorites]


I'm glad that the article takes such an upbeat tone, because it would really stink to tell kids that they were probably screwed, but my experience is that we do a pretty bad job helping homeless students. I can direct them towards decent community resources, such as a fair number of places that provide food assistance, but I'm not aware of a lot specifically offered by my university for students who have been homeless or become homeless while in college. And while it's not super common, I would say it's not super rare, either.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 7:14 PM on November 26, 2015


I lived in the international dorm when I was in college, and they let students stay there over shorter breaks (Thanksgiving, spring) and also helped find host families for the winter break; there was also at least one dorm open for the eight-week summer session. That still left gaps after the end of the spring semester and summer session, though. However, the article is also correct about some frats and sororities lending out rooms for the summer (it was inexpensive, if a bit raucous at times, the summer I did that); they may have been available at other times.
posted by Halloween Jack at 7:38 PM on November 26, 2015 [1 favorite]


As a former foster youth, I would have spent my summer between freshman and sophomore year of college homeless if it wasn't for some relatives giving me two months of rent for subletting. I had a full scholarship, but didn't have the knowledge of how certain things worked until too late. Sometimes you don't know what you need, and if nobody helps you, you're screwed.
posted by oceanjesse at 8:11 PM on November 26, 2015 [9 favorites]


I've been pleasantly surprised at the official infrastructure at my current university to help students in crisis (short or long term) situations.
posted by k8t at 9:05 PM on November 27, 2015 [1 favorite]


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