By Warren Lowell and Maria Hanratty, Photo: SeventyFour/Shutterstock, Housing Matters, November 8, 2023
Federal agencies and programs don’t use a universal definition for identifying people experiencing homelessness; in particular, the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Department of Education (ED) define homelessness differently. The biggest difference between HUD’s and ED’s definition of homelessness is that ED also defines people as experiencing homelessness if they’re living in hotels or motels or if they’re living with friends or family temporarily because of the loss of previous housing or other economic circumstances, a situation commonly known as “doubling up.”
These differing definitions can have material effects on everything from the number of identified people experiencing homelessness to determining eligibility and service provision of various supportive services offered by HUD and ED. This report investigates how the educational outcomes of students identified as homeless by HUD compare with those who are identified as homeless by ED.
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