Maya McFadden File Photo
Gemma Joseph Lumpkin: "Homelessness can happen at any point."
There are currently 567 New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) students couchsurfing, “doubling up,” sleeping in cars, living out of shelters, or otherwise without a stable home — a jump from 281 at this time last year — representing a spike in youth homelessness that district leaders attribute to increased family migration, domestic violence, and a broader housing affordability crisis.
NHPS Chief of Youth, Family and Community Engagement Gemma Joseph Lumpkin and NHPS McKinney Vento Care Coordinator for NHPS Abigail Rivera confirmed those sobering numbers during a recent interview with the Independent.
That latest number — of 567 NHPS students experiencing homelessness — is up from Nov. 6., when Joseph Lumpkin last updated the Board of Education’s Finance & Operations Committee with the report that there were 533 school district students without stable housing at that time. Those numbers aren’t just estimates. They represent an actual list of 567 individual students the district has identified as meeting the definition of homelessness.
Joseph Lumpkin and Rivera only expect these numbers to increase, predicting that there will be 1,100 homeless students identified by the end of the current school year in June, compared to around 700 students identified as experiencing homeless by the end of last school year. There are a total of 19,286 students enrolled in NHPS, as of the start of this school year.
True to those expectations, in a Tuesday email to the Independent, Rivera said that, by 3 p.m. that day, she had received six new intakes — meaning six more students that the district deems experiencing homelessness.
Rivera said that NHPS’s definition of student homelessness is in line with the federal McKinney Vento Act’s definition. That definition covers “children and youths who are sharing the housing of other persons due to loss of housing, 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; 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, children and youths who are living in cars, parks, public spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, bus or train stations, or similar settings, and migratory children.” (Click here to read the full definitions.)
Rivera said the state’s housing crisis is a key reason this year’s numbers have seen an uptick. “Many families report being unable to find housing and have been evicted not for lack of paying, but rather for the inability to find housing. This is the single most common reason I have heard from families.”
She added that migration and domestic violence are also reasons the district hears from students and their families about how city youth are ending up without a home of their own.
Joseph Lumpkin added that much of the population make up includes newcomers immigrating to New Haven, multilingual, and LGBTQ students.
All of this comes amid a citywide increase in homelessness. City government has sought to address that rise through the conversion of a Foxon Boulevard hotel, a vacant former Orchard Street school, and a Hill industrial building into spaces to sleep for those with nowhere else to go. A community of Hill activists have also set up tiny homes on a private backyard and tents on adjacent public space to provide shelter for those displaced from government-cleared tent encampments. And a local homelessness services nonprofit is looking to open the city’s first warming shelter exclusively for young adults.
Financial break down for CCA partnership resources.
During Monday’s latest full Board of Education meeting, which held both in person at Barack Obama Magnet School on Farnham Avenue and online via Zoom, the Board voted unanimously to approve a $30,000 agreement between the school district and the local homelessness services nonprofit Christian Community Action, Inc. (CCA) to provide referrals to community services, temporary shelter, and resources to families and students experiencing homelessness.
An agreement between the school district and the New Haven Pride Center was also included in the Nov. 6 Finance & Operations Committee’s informational-only items. The $9,997.50 agreement tasks the Pride Center with providing LGBTQ students experiencing homelessness with weekly programming and recovery spaces.
The partnerships are effective Nov. 14 until June 30, 2024.
Joseph Lumpkin said her department plans to partner with additional organizations to support the district’s effort to provide wraparound services to students experiencing homelessness and get those deemed chronically absent back in school regularly.
CCA will provide students and families with immediate access to basic needs like food and clothing and refer youth and their families to mental health resources.
Families or students experiencing homelessness can reach out to the Youth, Family and Community Engagement Department by calling 475 – 220-1900.
Last year, during the district’s pilot of partnering with grassroots organizations to help tackle chronic absenteeism and homelessness concerns, Joseph Lumpkin said, her department collected data regularly to “see that the child patterns of attendance and behavior are improving.”
Some students are identified as homeless by tracking the district’s extreme chronic absenteeism cases.
“Oftentimes we have found that the community partners and their team have stronger relationships with our families and our students that we may not have been able to establish for a variety of reasons,” Joseph Lumpkin said.
The partners also provide the district with insight to how to better serve its families.
This year Joseph Lumpkin said the district has established an after-hours emergency number with partners like CCA because “homelessness can happen at any point, and sometimes suddenly.”
Last year the district had student intakes on Thanksgiving Day and the night before Christmas. From that experience, district leaders learned the school system would need a 24/7 support service, and has included this in its agreement this year.
The district has also used grant funding to hire part-time staff in order to increase its number of calls and outreach power to families.
On Tuesday morning, Rivera received an intake message from one of the district’s high schools informing her that an 18-year-old student was sleeping in their car. All before 12 p.m. that same day, Rivera visited the school and provided that student with a Stop & Shop gift card, a sleeping bag, clothing, socks, and toiletries. She also offered the student a spot at Youth Continuum for 30 days.
The 18-year-old was cautious with Rivera and did not give her a definite yes or no to the offering of a bed for the next 30 days, she said. She said the student’s hesitancy in this case is not uncommon during such encounters she has on a regular basis with students and families experiencing homelessness.
Rivera said the majority of homeless students and families are in “double up” situations where they are living in a home that is not theirs and are typically secluded to a single bedroom or living room space to live with their entire family.
In the past the district has also supported homeless students and families by providing them with rebuilt bicycles for transportation, as well as supports that may provide them with a “sense of dignity,” like access to fitness center organizations that provide wellness support on school sites.
The district also accepts donations, with restrictions on textiles, to create survival kits for families. To donate, call Coordinator of Parent Engagement Daniel Diaz at 475 – 220-1063.
See below for more recent Independent articles about homelessness, activism, and attempts to find shelter.
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I still don't understand why these kids/families are not prioritized for the hotel on Foxon. I thought that was the point of the hotel units, to take care of families needing to stay together. But instead they're banning anyone under 18. It makes no sense.