Housing, Student Homelessness, and Racial Integration as Essential Education Policy Components

• In Event: Rethinking Policies for Justice and Equitable Education Systems

Abstract

Objective
This paper will provide an overview of the evidence base on the relationship between housing conditions and education, focusing on the housing outcomes targeted by housing programs and policies and their influence on educational outcomes. It will also examine opportunities for better alignment between housing and education, with a focus on housing and education partnerships that prioritize the basic needs, health, and well-being of housing insecure youth, drawing connections between racially and economically integrated communities and local, state, and federal integration policies, issues that are often viewed in isolation.
Theoretical Framework
The authors center their analysis based on two levels of research: one, scholarship that explores the effects of housing stability or conditions on education outcomes, and at a second level the effects of neighborhood characteristics (i.e. racially and economically isolated communities) on education outcomes, proposing new, integrated theories for drawing connections across issues through policy remedies (Mueller & Tighe, 2007).

Methods & Data Sources
The authors present several theoretical representations of the relationship between housing, education, and racially and economically integrated communities, utilizing mixed methods studies from multiple disciplines to explore how policies can aim to dismantle social patterns that can be harmful to young people and families.

Results
Authors of this paper look at how examples of policy responses at the local, state, and federal levels in response to housing and education inequities and segregated communities reflect or challenge existing literature on the topic. Recommendations for future research and policy analysis are provided as well.

Scholarly Significance
COVID-19 has underscored the connection between housing and educational outcomes, as many students joined virtual classrooms from their homes due to the health crisis, and many experience housing insecurity due to the economic crisis. Long before the pandemic, housing stability and quality were linked to educational outcomes like kindergarten readiness, grade-level math or reading, or high school graduation. And though homelessness and housing instability are widely recognized as a factor for student success, other factors—like unaffordability, crowding, and poor maintenance—can also adversely affect student performance. Over 1.4 million students in the United States are experiencing homelessness in the United States, a 48 percent increase in K-12 settings over the past decade prior to the pandemic (National Center for Homeless Education, 2019). These realities present a strong argument for more research that seeks to understand the significance of housing policies as central to education policy.

Authors

• Matthew Morton, University of Chicago

• Earl Edwards, University of California - Los Angeles

• Erica Frankenberg, The Pennsylvania State University

• Jenn Ayscue, North Carolina State University