Homeless Or Housing Unstable Students (2006–2024)

Definition

Homeless students are any students who lack a fixed, regular, adequate nighttime residence. The Indiana Department of Education utilizes the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act to define which students are homeless. The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act includes the following in its definition of homeless children and youths: to define which students are homeless.

(i) children and youths who are sharing the housing of other persons due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or a similar reason; are living in motels, hotels, trailer parks, or camping grounds due to the lack of alternative adequate accommodations; are living in emergency or transitional shelters; or are abandoned in hospitals;

(ii) children and youths who have a primary nighttime residence that is a public or private place not designed for or ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings (within the meaning of section 103(a)(2)(C));

(iii) children and youths who are living in cars, parks, public spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, bus or train stations, or similar settings; and

(iv) migratory children (as such term is defined in section 1309 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965)

Data Source

Indiana Department of Education

Last Updated

2025-06