The housing crisis and lack of government support have impacted students in Sedona and Cottonwood schools in proportion to the number of homeless students and the length of time they receive support services under the federal McKinney Vent Act. ing.

“What we are talking about is [teenagers] I sometimes see 12-year-olds alone on the streets of Yavapai County, Arizona,” said Tim Carter, Yavapai County Superintendent of Education. “I hear this all over the place. Some schools have less of a problem than others due to their socioeconomic situation. But it happened and still happens in the richest schools.”

The McKinney-Bent Act mandates free transportation to and from school for children who do not have “fixed, regular and suitable overnight housing.” This definition includes many atypical homeless scenarios, including living in motels, temporary housing, camping, living in abandoned buildings, and other options.

The most common situation in Verde Valley is having multiple families living in the same house, but Deanna DeWitt, Sedona Oak Creek School District associate superintendent and homelessness officer, said it’s an invisible problem.

Clarkdale Jerome School District and Beaver Creek School District administrators said the number of students in the McKinney Bent school district and the length of time they attend the program have not increased in the past two years.

The Camp Verde School District did not respond to a request for comment.

Conversely, Mingus Union High School, Sedona Oak Creek School District, and Cottonwood Oak Creek School District have seen dramatic increases in the number of homeless students in recent years, and students are staying longer in their programs.

“I serve four families of students in a two-bedroom condominium,” DeWitt said. “From some people’s perspective, you’d say, ‘Oh, we have running water and we have a kitchen.’ It doesn’t provide the privacy, security, and structure that it’s supposed to.”

Carter said enrollment in the McKinney Bent program tends to increase because students tend to stay in the program once they are there.

“If I won the lottery and won $1 million, I would buy a house…it could literally be over in a blink of an eye,” Carter said. “But we don’t realize that. What we’re seeing is that the spiral is downward instead of upward.”

In addition to transportation to and from school, the program also provides other support for students and families, such as meals, clothing, fuel cards, and discreet locations to do laundry and other household chores.

“If a student comes to school and says, ‘I’m homeless,’ if they find that they fit the definition of homeless, there are a number of rules that traditionally apply to the student and their families, which will result in immediate suspension. ’” Carter said.

Sedona Oak Creek

“I am currently serving 30 homeless students through McKinney Vent,” DeWitt said. There are approximately 750 students enrolled in this school district. “I also serve four foster children and five refugees. The programs that help these children are similar in support services and educational rights.”

Ms DeWitt said this is comparable to the number of students she has received since she started working as a homeless liaison for SOCSD seven years ago. At the time, 15 students were identified. Since then, the program has averaged 20-25 students each year. Many of these students are in a somewhat temporary situation as their families are forced to move due to lack of available housing resources.

If a family meets McKinney Bent’s definition of homelessness, the family is eligible for support services for the rest of the school year, even if the housing situation becomes more permanent. Eligibility is reassessed annually by Homeless Liaison Officers such as:

Mr. DeWitt has noticed an alarming trend.

“What I’m discovering now is that these families continue year after year…and I’m seeing a decline in the temporary population in my program,” DeWitt said. “There are more and more families living here for the long term, but they are no longer able to find permanent housing for the long term.

McKinney Wendt and others are still unable to find suitable permanent housing. That’s what changed for me. ”

Eleven people living in a two-bedroom apartment in Sedona poses a unique challenge for educators like DeWitt, as it’s not an image usually associated with homelessness.

“The majority of the families I serve are working people, and nearly all of them work here in Sedona,” DeWitt said.

SOCSD also serves the few homeless families in camps and provides children with showers and laundry facilities with the aim of keeping them discreet so they are not ostracized. .

“Some of these families were born locally and are in a situation where they cannot afford to find a home here,” DeWitt said. “Many of them wonder whether they should stay in the environment in which they grew up. I’m worried about how our business will find labor in the future.The housing situation in Sedona has been dire, but it’s now affecting the entire Verde Valley.”

cotton wood

When Gretchen Wesbrook first began managing McKinney Vendt admissions at Mingus Union High School District for the 2018-2019 school year, the program had approximately four students.

“It’s hovering around number 25 right now,” Wesbrook said. MUHSD has approximately 1,247 registrants.

“Our biggest challenge is community housing,” Wesbrook said. “The waiting list is pretty long. A family I worked with recently was told it would probably take a year or more to be able to move into low-income housing. I know that some agencies were encouraging families to migrate due to the lack of available resources, especially housing.”

Weblock also noted that the number of homeless students may be underreported

This is because two-person families may not consider themselves homeless. The problem of underreporting is compounded by inconsistent definitions of homelessness across agencies, which can cause a lot of confusion for families and discourage them from using McKinney Bent services. There is

For example, at the federal level, the Department of Housing and Urban Development does not consider condominiums to be homeless. “I’ve been in the position for about a year now, and they’ve definitely stayed in the position longer than they did in the pre-coronavirus years,” said Jocelyn Alvey, a homeless officer for the Cottonwood Oak Creek School District. It seems there is,” he said.

“What we’ve found is that students are definitely coming back for multiple years.” [and] still qualified

McKinney Vendt,” continued Alby. “[But] Our community has a high student turnover. It’s hard to say if they’ll drop out of the program or drop out of school. ”

Cottonwood Oak Creek currently has 120 students eligible for McKinney Bent services this school year. In 2019, there were 1,835 district registrants.