Virginia student homelessness numbers near pre-pandemic levels

As Virginia school divisions investigate increases in chronic student absences, data shows the state’s homeless youth rate is returning close to pre-pandemic levels.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Virginia recorded about 10,000 homeless youth in public schools annually. Those numbers dropped by nearly 3,000 students in the 2020-21 school year. Since then, however, they have steadily increased, reaching about 9,000 students, as pandemic-era protections and extra funding for programs like rental assistance and food assistance have expired.

School divisions and advocates are now swiftly moving to address the rise in homeless students as relief measures unwind for students and families.

Barbara Duffield, executive director for the nonprofit SchoolHouse Connection, an organization that combats homelessness, said actual cases could be even higher than what school officials have identified.

“It’s hard to know if a child is experiencing homelessness,” said Duffield. “But when children aren’t even in school or coming on a regular basis, then that really requires proactive outreach to the community — putting posters up in motels, talking to the service provider community, word of mouth, all of those things — to let families who aren’t in school know that they can come to school, and they can get the help to do that.”

Loudoun County, one of the most affluent counties in the country, reported the highest number of homeless students in Virginia at the start of the 2022-23 school year, with 1,240 cases, according to the Virginia Department of Education. That equates to nearly one in seven homeless students in Virginia attending school in Loudoun County.

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