Lancaster County Rep. Smith-Wade-El asks legislators to bring awareness to youth homelessness

Joined by Delaware County Rep. Gina Curry in rally at Pa. Capitol

• By Jade Campos / LNP | LancasterOnline

HARRISBURG – The School District of Lancaster has identified 800 students who are experiencing homelessness so far this school year.

Last November, the district said 692 students were homeless, a number that climbed to 970 by the end of the 2024-25 school year.

Patricia Maila, who works with homeless students in the district through the Families in Transition Program, said the district expects the total for the current school year to peak at more than 1,000 students, or 10% of the 10,000 students of all ages who attend Lancaster schools.

Maila joined Lancaster state Rep. Izzy Smith-Wade-El at the state Capitol on Tuesday to raise awareness of youth homelessness. Statewide, more than 50,000 students were identified as homeless during the 2023-24 school year.

“These numbers still fall short of students who are underidentified because families fear repercussions,” Maila said. “They suffer in silence due to ramifications they may face if authorities are notified that their children cannot be adequately housed.”

Smith-Wade-El and Rep. Gina Curry of Delaware County, both Democrats, are asking their colleagues in the Pennsylvania House to pass a bill that would recognize Nov. 17-21 as Pennsylvania Education for Youth Experiencing Homelessness Awareness Week. People would be encouraged to wear red on Friday to continue to raise awareness for youth homelessness.

Smith-Wade-El said the bill is scheduled for a vote in the House on Wednesday.

Wearing a bright red blazer, Curry called on state officials to do better at identifying homeless students and providing them the support they need to continue in school. Leaders from homeless services nonprofits and public schools, also wearing red, stood with the two lawmakers with signs that said “Homework requires a home” and “Exams not evictions.”

“(Pennsylvania schools) lack the dedicated staffing that is needed to make sure that we’re finding out about student crises before they’re becoming a crisis,” said Brian Knight, director of community engagement for the Homeless Children’s Education Fund, a nonprofit based in Pittsburgh that works with schools to help homeless students do well in class and graduate on time.

“If you find out that a student has been homeless for a week, they’ve already missed a week of school,” he said.

‘Slip through the cracks’

More than 2,500 public school students are experiencing homelessness in Lancaster County, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Education.

School districts are required by a federal law, the McKinney-Vento Act, to provide resources and support, such as transportation, for students who do not have stable housing.

Importantly, the law has a broad definition for identifying children as homeless. It includes students who are living in hotels, in cars, on friends’ or family members’ couches and in homeless shelters.

The McKinney-Vento Act provides a broader definition of homelessness than the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which considers only people who are actively living on the streets or in shelters to be homeless.

“Too many students slip through the cracks because they don’t meet the narrow definitions or because no one asks the question,” Curry said. “Every student in Pennsylvania deserves more than survival. They deserve hope, they deserve chance, they deserve a stable home, a classroom that welcomes them and a community that supports them.”

At the moment, Maila said School District of Lancaster has targeted transportation, mental health services and shelter as the greatest needs of homeless students.

Smith-Wade-El called on the state to provide more funding for statewide housing programs like the Department of Human Services’ Homeless Assistance Program, which funds homeless services in local communities. He said funding also needs to support efforts to end intergenerational poverty so young people can work toward goals and enjoy stable housing.

“I suppose I dream about a statement government that has organized around that vision,” he said.

Curry said legislators must make continued investments in public schools to ensure there are enough programs available to support homeless students.

Decriminalization of homelessness

While thousands of children in Lancaster County are considered homeless, many shelters do not permit minors under 18 years old to stay overnight. Some shelters that do may place restrictions on those children, such as not allowing teenage boys over the age of 13. That could drive some families to opt for sleeping on the streets or in public parks instead of being housed in shelters.

Ahead of his call for youth homelessness awareness Tuesday, Smith-Wade-El joined state Sen. Nikil Saval, D-Philadelphia, to discuss pending House and Senate bills that would ban the criminalization of homelessness. Smith-Wade-El said that means municipalities would not be able to fine or arrest people who are sleeping outdoors if there is no other place for them to sleep.

The bill, he said, is intended to push municipalities to respond to homelessness by creating more housing solutions.

“We will bend the arc of government here in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania away from a sort of municipal surrender that says the only form of affordable housing that we will invest in is prisons and toward an approach to local government that is defined by justice and human interests before business or political interests,” Smith-Wade-El said.