Children and Housing

1
Children and Housing

• Presentation for the Oversight and Accountability
  Commission
  
• November 21, 2008

United Advocates for Children and Families
2
Childrens Housing Problem Not Well Documented

• No government agency keeps track of families that
  lose their housing as a result of children with a
  serious emotional disturbance or mental health
  disorder.
• Families dont come forward for fear of losing
  their children.

3
Children Do Better With Stable Housing

• Disruption in housing clinically destabilizes
  children and disrupts schooling.
  

4
Children Do Better With Stable Housing

• Homeless children are more likely to experience
  greater mental health challenges.
  
• Nearly one in three children who are homeless
  have at least one major mental disorder that
  interferes with daily activities compared to
  nearly one in five school-age children who are
  not homeless.
• Almost half of children who are homeless have
  anxiety, depression or withdrawal compared to
  less than one in five other school-age children.
  
• And more than one in three children who are
  homeless manifest delinquent and aggressive
  behavior compared to less thanone in five other
  school-age children.

Reference Mental Health America
5
Children Do Better With Stable Housing

• Homeless children dont do as well in school.
• Compared with other children, homeless children
  are
  
• Four times as likely to have developmental
  delays.
  
• Twice as likely to have learning disabilities.
• Twice as likely to repeat a grade, most often due
  to frequent absences and moves to new schools
  (28 of homeless children go to three or more
  schools in a single year).

Reference U.S. Department of Education and the
National Center on Family Homelessness
6
How Do FamiliesLose Their Housing?

• When children are destructive to the property.
• When children are threatening to other tenants.
• When other tenants are afraid.
• When parents lose their job from having to take
  time off to deal with the child.

7
Grandparents Raising Grandchildren

• Grandparents in senior housing trying to raise
  grandchildren.
  
• Grandparents on fixed incomes.

8
Families Cant Get Stable Housing

• Stable housing means the family decides when to
  move.
  
• Because the child and not the family is the
  client, housing might depend on the childs
  status.
  

9
Families Cant Get Stable Housing

• What Happens When
• The child ages out of childrens mental health?
• The child is moved to a group home?
• The child becomes incarcerated?
• The child is no longer a client of the mental
  health system?

10
Types Of Help For Families

• Work with Landlords to
• Allow families with an eviction to move in.
• Assure them that property damage will be fixed.

11
Types Of Help For Families

• Financial Assistance
• Monthly Rent Subsidies
• Help with Security Deposit
• Supportive Housing