Menendez And Kennedy Hail Passage Of Legislation To Assist Children Uprooted By Foreclosures

Washington - Today, as part of landmark legislation to respond to the housing crisis, the U.S. Senate approved an amendment authored by Senators Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Edward Kennedy (D-MA) that would provide an infusion of funding for a program to help schoolchildren uprooted by foreclosures to stay in their schools and receive educational assistance. As a result of the nationwide foreclosure crisis, potentially millions of students will see their families lose their homes, and many have already found themselves floating from school to school.

Senator Menendez said: "One of the pieces of collateral damage from the devastating foreclosure crisis that hasn't gotten enough attention is the effect it can have on our nation's children. It is unfair to let these children float from one unfamiliar school to another through no fault of their own and against the will of their parents. When they are abruptly uprooted from the schools where they have formed a connection to the teachers, learning material and classmates, their development can be severely stunted. For the development of the children of our country, we are pleased and thankful that our amendment was included in the housing legislation and will become law."

Melissa Wagoner, spokeswoman for Senator Kennedy, said: "The loss of a home is devastating - particularly for young people. Senator Kennedy is proud to support this amendment. It will go a long way towards providing homeless students with the support they need to succeed in school and reach their full potential."

Bruce Lesley, President of First Focus, said: "We applaud Senator Menendez for leading the effort to support children who are impacted by the foreclosure crisis. The amendment passed today will help to provide these children with the services they need to grow up safe and healthy, as well as ensure that they stay in school and on track for success."

Tim Stahlke, President of the National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth, said: "The Menendez amendment will provide much needed relief to children and families whose lives have been upended by loss of housing due to the foreclosure crisis. It will help strengthen the safety net provided by schools, and ensure that children who lose their housing do not also lose their classmates, teachers, and education. We are thrilled at its passage as a critical step in bringing stability and support to these vulnerable children and families."

Abrupt, and in some cases frequent, changes of school can affect a child's ability to learn and puts strain on school districts. An analysis by the group First Focus and the Brookings Institution has estimated that up to two million schoolchildren will be affected by the foreclosure crisis.

The amendment to the housing bill was supported by the following national organizations: Alliance for Children and Families Alliance for Excellent Education, American Humane Association, Break the Cycle. Camp Fire USA, Child Welfare League of America, Communities In Schools, First Focus, National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth, National Association of Elementary School Principals, National Association Secondary School Principalsm National Collaboration for Youth, National Education Association, National PTA, National School Boards Association, Public Education Network, School Social Work Association of America, The Rebecca Project for Human Rights, United Neighborhood Centers of America, Voices for America's Children, YMCA of the USA, and YouthBuild USA.

The following summary and fact sheet was prepared by Focus First:

MENENDEZ AMENDMENT

Meeting the Needs of Children Impacted by the Foreclosure Crisis

BACKGROUND

First Focus and the Brookings Institution estimate that nearly two million children will be directly impacted by the mortgage crisis.[1] Research shows that these children are at higher risk of doing poorly in math and reading, being held back, and eventually dropping out:

• Data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (known as the Nation's Report Card) has found that students with two or more school changes in the previous ear are half as likely to be proficient in reading as their stable peers.

• A GAO study found that third-graders who have changed schools frequently are 2.5 times more likely to repeat a grade than their peers.

• Other researchers have found that school and residential changes can reduce the chances that a student will graduate by more than 50 percent.

These children and youth are also at higher risk of behavioral and health problems:

• One study found that frequent movers were 77 percent more likely than children who have not moved to have four or more behavior problems.

• Another study found that attending several different elementary schools increased the likelihood of violent behavior in high school by 20 percent.

• Working families spending more than half of their income on housing have less money available than other families to spend on such crucial items as health care and health insurance.

PROPOSAL

Senator Menendez's amendment will authorize an infusion of funds to school districts across the country through the McKinney-Vento Homeless Education program to help ensure that students who are forced to move from their homes do not also have to leave their schools.

SERVICES PROVIDED BY MCKINNEY-VENTO

McKinney-Vento allows homeless students to stay in their schools even if they are forced to move outside the school district. In addition, the program provides homeless students with a variety of supports, such as tutoring, school supplies, and counseling, among others, to help stabilize their education even though the rest of their lives are fraught with uncertainty.

Loss of housing can have devastating emotional consequences for children and youth. Social networks are disrupted, belongings are lost, and the stress and anxiety of not knowing where or when new permanent housing will be found prevent children from being able to focus on their education. More McKinney-Vento funding will enable school districts to provide the counseling and other assistance necessary to help children and youth with the emotional trauma caused by homelessness.

CHALLENGES FACING FAMILIES

Many families are facing the combined challenge of the foreclosure crisis, the downturn in the economy, the spike in food and gas prices, and the nation's lack of affordable housing.

For example, a school district in Alabama discovered a family who was homeless due to foreclosure only when the mother's car broke down. The mother did not want her autistic elementary-age child to suffer the dual trauma of losing her home and her school; therefore, she used what little money she had on gas to drive her daughter to and from school.

The mother had not informed the school about her situation because she did not know she qualified under the McKinney-Vento Act and that services were available. She had been depleting the family's scare resources on gas to get her child to school, thus hampering the family's efforts to save money to get out of the motel and into rental housing. Unfortunately, the mother's car broke down and the child was no longer able to go to school. The school district then identified the family as homeless and is now working to provide transportation so the child can go to school, and other services so the family can get back on its feet.

Additional McKinney-Vento funding would assist school districts to identify homeless families, and provide them with gas vouchers or other transportation assistance so they do not have to further deplete their savings in order to provide educational stability for their children.

CHALLENGES FACING SCHOOL DISTRICTS

As a result of the foreclosure crisis and economic downturn, school districts are identifying more children and youth who are homeless, adding to the already large and growing population of children and youth who do not have stable housing. These increased numbers are straining school district transportation budgets, as well as other resources necessary to ensure school stability and support for academic success.

Families who have lost their housing due to foreclosure need assistance navigating social services, housing, and other systems of community aid with which they are often unfamiliar. The responsibility for providing these referrals and "navigation" assistance belongs to McKinney-Vento school district liaisons. With increased caseloads, liaisons are struggling try to provide comprehensive assistance to all impacted families - those homeless due to foreclosure and those homeless for other reasons - and to ensure that children and youth are connected to the full range of educational supports.

At the current funding level, only 5% of school districts nationwide receive these subgrants. The emergency grants that are authorized by the Menendez amendment would allow States to provide supplemental funding to any school district that has demonstrated need due to increased foreclosures, thus allowing more school districts to provide assistance to more children and youth who are homeless due to foreclosure.

Numbers may not add due to rounding.
(A) Center for Responsible Lending data on projected foreclosures [http://www.responsiblelending.org/issues/mortgage/ quick-references/state-by-state- analyses-of-subprime- losses.html, accessed 4/18/2008].
(B) Brookings analysis of children in owner-occupied homes with outstanding mortgages, based on 2006 data from the American Community Survey.
(C) Ibid.
(D) Children = (A) x (B) x (C).

*The state-by-state analysis undercounts children impacted by the foreclosure crisis because it ignores racial/ethnic differences, and thus does not take into account the higher incidence of subprime loans and higher family sizes among Latino households. In other words, the national estimate of 1.95 million children detailed in The Impact of the Mortgage Crisis on Children is preferred over the 1.85 million total shown above.

###