An estimated 2 million children are at risk of homelessness because of the foreclosure crisis and economic downturn, according to First Focus, a child advocacy organization that examined Census and economic data.
The number of homeless students in foreclosure-ridden Oakland, Calif., with 38,000 students, has doubled to 1,200 since last year, said Mathew Uretsky, the district's homelessness coordinator. And he thinks the number of school-age homeless children is four times as high.
"We find children in shelters who are just sitting there," he said. "Sometimes we find kids who aren't in school right now because they don't have bus passes. A lot of children of day laborers are not going to school because their parents don't think they have a right to go."
Some families end up in shelters, or staying with relatives or friends. Others stay in run-down motels or their cars. In cities where rents are high, such as San Francisco, a family that loses its home may spend monthsor years trying to find another.
Alex Rodriguez, 32, and Rosa Estevez, 26, both lost their jobs - he at a car-parts store, she at an insurance office - when their companies left San Francisco. Within two months, they and their 12-year-old son were homeless. They wound up at Rafael House, a family shelter.
Estevez, who is pregnant, said their son is often depressed.
"We try to stay upbeat for him," she said, "but I've noticed that he is not as interested in school any more."
A survey of more than 1,700 school districts released yesterday by First Focus and The National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth, Washington-based nonprofits, found unprecedented jumps in homeless students in the three months of the school year.
Most districts surveyed said they had identified more homeless students in the first three months than they had at the same point last year. Some 330 districts already have identified at least as many homeless students this school year as they did in the entire previous year. About 10 percent of the 16,000 school districts across the country participated in the survey.
