To: President Donald Trump, The Florida State House, The Florida State Senate, Governor Ron DeSantis, The United States House of Representatives, and The United States Senate
FLORIDA's HOMELESS & POOR YOUTH
Lack of Affordable Housing
For over a decade, the number of affordable housing units declined. Between 1993 and 2003, the proportion of low-cost rental units shrunk by 13 percent due to the loss of older, lower-quality apartments in the private market. 16 In 2005, about 40 percent of households with children ages birth through 17 reported one or more of the following housing problems: physically inadequate housing, crowded housing, or the associated cost burden. Generally, when a household pays more than 30 percent of its annual income on housing, it is considered to be a cost burden. 17 While there was a decrease in the percentage of households reporting physically inadequate housing or crowded housing between 1978 and 2005, 34 percent of families reported in 2005 a cost burden resulting from rent greater than 30 percent of their income. In 1978 only 15 percent of families reported this cost burden. 18
Overall the number of households with children reporting “severe” housing problems has increased from eight percent in 1978 to 13.8 percent in 2005. 19 Unmet needs for decent and affordable rental housing have been increasing even before the current housing crisis. 20
Why is this important?
According to the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, which was reauthorized as Title X, Part C, of the No Child Left Behind Act (P.L. 107–110), the term “homeless children and youths”
means individuals who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence
includes:
(i) children and youths who share the housing of other persons because of loss of housing, economic difficulties, or other similar reasons; those living in motels, hostels, trailer parks, or camping grounds because they lack alternative adequate accommodations; those living in temporary housing such as emergency or transitional shelters; being abandoned in hospitals; are waiting to be placed in foster care;
(ii) children and youths whose primary nighttime residence is a public or private place not designed for or generally used as a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings [within the meaning of section 103(a)(2)(C)];
(iii) children and youths who are living in automobiles, public spaces such as parks, bus or train stations, or other type of public areas, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, or similar settings; and
(iv) migratory children (as defined in section 1309 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965) who qualify as homeless because the children are living in circumstances described in above conditions (i) through (iii).
Source: U.S. Department of Education, 2002. No Child Left Behind Act. Accessed on Aug. 12, 2009 from http://www.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/esea02/107-110.pdf.