News

By Lara Weber and John J. Kim

The weather was still warm last week when we visited with about a dozen people camped on a parkway west of the Wilson Avenue viaduct under Lake Shore Drive. A few sat chatting in a circle of lawn chairs. Another group grilled spiced chicken. Homeless, they told us they were confused about where they are allowed to sleep at night and whether they are allowed to pitch tents. Many said they were eager to obtain permanent housing, but they’d been on a long city list for so many years they weren’t hopeful. In the meantime, they say local shelters are often unclean, unsafe or full — so they prefer the community they’ve made around Wilson.

More than 6,700 people in Chicago are identified as homeless, according to a city count conducted earlier this year. It’s a slight increase over the previous year, but that uptick is consistent with fluctuations over the past decade. What’s new, according to the Department of Family and Support Services, is the steady increase of people living “unsheltered.” About 2,000 people are living in parks, alleys, under viaducts or other places that often leave them — and their belongings — especially vulnerable.

Chicago settled a class-action lawsuit in January that had been filed on behalf of a group of homeless residents who alleged that Chicago police and other city workers destroyed their personal property, particularly along Lower Wacker Drive and in the vicinity of the Wilson Avenue viaduct under Lake Shore Drive. As part of the settlement, the city and the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, working for the claimants, developed a list of “personal portable possessions” that homeless people in those two areas would be allowed to keep with them.

In recent months, tensions have flared in Uptown, near the Wilson Avenue viaduct, over the terms of the settlement and conflicting interpretations of where the homeless community can sleep and what belongings they can have.

What’s allowed as “portable personal possessions”:

1 sleeping bag or bedroll

5 blankets (from October through April, five additional blankets and one extra sleeping bag or bedroll are allowed)

2 coats

2 pairs of shoes or boots

3 bags or suitcases (and the contents contained within)

Not allowed:

Non-air mattresses, box springs, potted plants, crates, large appliance boxes, carts, gurneys, wagons or furniture.

Link to video interview with Raul Gonzalez, 43, who describes his state of homelessness at a park adjacent to the Wilson Avenue underpass at Lake Shore Drive. (John J. Kim, Chicago Tribune).

By Sarah Karp, Better Government Association

A Chicago man has been charged with hawking L and bus passes that were swiped from the Chicago Public Schools — the latest sign CPS isn’t keeping good track of transit fare cards that are supposed to be distributed to homeless students.

Mohammed Abdullah, 24, was arrested Oct. 15 and charged with theft of more than $500 and less than $10,000, according to court records.

He’s accused of selling paper CTA Ventra cards meant for homeless students to customers who turned out to be undercover police officers.

By Natalie Moore

For Illinois families that need affordable housing, just getting on the waiting list is increasingly difficult.

According to a new report by Housing Action Illinois and Heartland Alliance, 72 percent of waiting lists for subsidized housing vouchers in Illinois are closed. Those public housing authorities with closed wait lists administer 95 percent of the vouchers available in the state.

“This means that people who need affordable housing to avoid being homeless can’t even get in line and this signals that we need more resources,” said Bob Palmer, policy director for Housing Action Illinois.

The places where wait lists are open are in rural areas with a small number of slots. There’s also a huge gap between the number of housing vouchers used by low-income families and those who need it.

Nearly 82,000 households in Illinois use housing vouchers, commonly known as Section 8, but advocates say there’s a deficit of 321,394 affordable rental units in the state.

Palmer wants Congress to lift a cap on the number of vouchers funded nationally. Federal budget sequester spending caps in 2011 had a big impact on the 2013 budget for vouchers. There are 67,000 vouchers nationally that could be restored and about four to five percent of those could come to Illinois.

The Chicago Housing Authority administers the most vouchers in the state but is authorized to administer nearly 51,000, according to the report. CHA has come under pressure and has begun releasing more. Currently, the public housing agency provides 44,000 and officials said by next year the number will increase to 46,000.

In a statement, CHA said: “We appreciate Heartland Alliance’s hope that Congress will expand the number of vouchers, but we are not counting on that alone to meet the need.” CHA said new city affordable housing requirements and the increase in the minimum wage “will help both decrease and meet the need.”

Using a voucher isn’t always easy for families. Last month WBEZ found widespread voucher discrimination in Chicago Craigslist ads. On average four to five postings a day during the month of June told voucher holders not to bother applying, which is illegal in the city.

Read the full report here. 

By Josh McGhee · DNAinfo Reporter

UPTOWN — Laura and her husband Jose have been “hop, skipping and jumping around” the North Side since they lost their home about three years ago.

Most recently, they’ve called the Wilson Avenue viaduct home, but before that they had a quaint apartment with a garden out back next to their patio and two-car garage.

The house had a big steel gate out front to help them feel safe from the streets of Chicago, says Laura, 51, who can remember the details vividly from her wheelchair parked a few feet from her “Personal Portable Possessions,” the small collection items she’s allowed to keep while living on the streets, according to a new city policy.

But tragedy struck the couple. Jose lost his job. The bank foreclosed on the house they were renting in. Her grandmother became ill and needed someone to take care of her. There was a car accident, which led to back surgery, she said.

“I’m disabled I’ll never be able to work again,” Laura said Tuesday. “These are people who lost their job or are disabled… and some are waiting for affordable housing. Not everybody that’s homeless is a drug addict or a prostitute.”

Homelessness on the Rise

In January, the Department of Family Support Services conducted its annual point-in-time survey and discovered the homeless population in Chicago had risen by roughly 8 percent.

About 6,786 people are homeless in Chicago and about 2,055 are unsheltered. About 68 percent of the homeless population is male, 32 percent is female and about .3 percent identify as transgender, according to the survey. The data is gathered by staff and volunteers who speak to homeless people they find on the street, and combines that data with numbers from area homeless shelters.

According to the point-in-time survey, about 57 percent of the sheltered were men, compared to about 43 percent of women. Those numbers have held steady since about 2009.

But when it comes to the unsheltered, those numbers jump to about 87 percent men, a five percent jump in the last year, according to the survey.

“There’s no place for men. There’s never going to be enough room. We’ll have space for single women. There’s just not enough room for men,” said Sandy Ramsey, the Executive Director of Cornerstone Community Outreach, at 4628 N. Clifton Ave. in Uptown.

Cornerstone has a capacity of about 80 men and 65 women. The men’s side, which is housed at Epworth United Methodist Church at 5253 N. Kenmore Ave, is almost always filled. Beds free up only for a fleeting moment, Ramsey said.

So where should those in need turn?

According to Ramsey: “There are no easy answers.”

A Crackdown in Uptown

In Uptown, homelessness is an issue that can not be ignored, partially because of visibility. The viaducts along Lake Shore Drive have long been home to folks with nowhere else to go. Laura and Jose called the Wilson Avenue viaduct home until Sunday, when police cleared about a dozen homeless people — mostly men — from the viaduct.

Around 5:20 p.m., officers told those under the Wilson viaduct they needed to pack up their tents and leave. Jose was one of those ticketed for using a “tent without permit,” which he plans to fight in court, he said.

After hearing about the incident, activist Andy Thayer came down to the viaducts seeking an explanation. When police returned around 8 p.m., they cited two different municipal codes they were enforcing. Activists claim the officers and others are misinterpreting the law “to drive out the homeless.”

“It’s just disgusting. [They’re] burdening more things on [people in] a bad situation,” said Thayer, a member of the Gay Liberation Network. “CPD has launched a coordinated attack on people who have nowhere to go.”

A Chicago Police spokesman had no information about the incident. A spokeswoman for Ald. James Cappleman (46th) said she was looking into it.

In similar case about two weeks ago, officers cleared homeless people from the Lawrence Avenue viaduct and gave them a set of rules detailing what “Personal Portable Possessions” they could carry. Activists say many of those homeless people ended up in a camping just west of the viaduct.

Confrontation Caught on Tape

In a video shot on Sunday by activists during a recent police effort to clear the viaduct, police cited Chicago Code 10-36-185, which allows police the authority to enforce provisions of the Chicago Park District Code.

Officers have also historically cited Municipal Code 10-40-560, which discusses congregations on bridges and viaducts.

The code states that it is “unlawful for any person to form or cause an accumulation of persons, animals or vehicles on any public bridge or viaduct, to any extent which may jeopardize the safety of such bridge or viaduct. No person shall persist in causing such accumulation, after being warned by a bridge tender, police officer or other person having supervision of such bridge or viaduct.”

During a recent protest called “Tent City” where activists spent a night with the homeless around the viaduct, Thayer says officers cited the same ordinances, but left after he explained the protest wasn’t taking place on Park District property.

“[The ordinance] was clearly designed for safety reasons, like parking a bunch of trucks under the bridge,” Thayer said. “This is the height of stupidity. [They’re] unconstitutionally driving homeless out of the ward to make it safe for gentrifiers.”

Patricia Nix-Hodes, director of the Law Project for the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, said “neither ordinance seems appropriate for charging people at the Wilson Viaduct.”

“One relates to Chicago Police enforcement of park district ordinances and the other relates to Chicago harbors, and in any case only applies where the safety of a bridge or viaduct is jeopardized,” Nix-Hodes said. The Coalition for the Homeless has said the combination of information being distributed by different agencies has made the situation confusing for the homeless.

In a statement, Matt Smith, a spokesman for the Chicago Department of Family and Support Services, said the city “is committed to a compassionate and consistent approach to providing homeless services to ensure public safety while respecting the rights of this vulnerable population.”

“In addition to the ongoing outreach efforts to offer shelter and social services to homeless individuals on a daily basis, the City houses more than 3,000 people on any given night via our citywide network of overnight shelters and interim housing. We remain engaged in an ongoing dialogue with all stakeholders about how to best address the special needs and challenges of our homeless residents, and to assist every Chicagoan in having a place to call home.”

Nowhere To Go

After leaving the viaduct, the homeless weren’t given any directions about where to go, so they went into the park because “where else will they go,” Thayer said.

While temperatures Sunday afternoon were in the low 60s, they dropped to about 43 degrees around 1 a.m., forcing some to use their maximum allotment of “up to 10 blankets” to battle the elements.

Laura and Jose used their two shopping carts and chair to block the wind, a tarp “so we can be comfortable” and five blankets a piece to trap in the heat, they said.

“They didn’t tell us where to go and they didn’t care. We’re freezing, they don’t care. The temps drop at night and it gets really cold out here,” Laura said.

The battle over the viaducts has raged on since the homeless were cleared out in June ahead of a Mumford and Sons concert at Montrose Beach that was expected to bring large crowds. Cornerstone ended up sheltering about 20 people “because they are human beings in need,” Ramsey said.

“Rather than get into [if it’s legal or illegal to move them from the viaducts] I wanted to be practical. We just answered the call,” said Ramsey, adding most lasted about 5-6 weeks before returning to the viaduct.

“I think I understand, unfortunately, why they are under the bridge. There’s a certain amount of community that is down there.”

Cornerstone has sheltered many from the viaducts, but they don’t often stay long. Some people leave on their own and others “are asked to leave” when they can’t get along with other residents, Ramsey said.

It’s hard to for some to buy into the structures and guidelines, plus people “need space and air,” said Ramsey adding that most are welcomed back.

It’s also hard to show them the light at the end of the tunnel, considering it “takes about 40 days to get public aid” and those walking into Cornerstone are already on their last leg, she said.

“The long term thing takes a long time, and it takes a long time to maneuver a human being. Most of our people come in with no money. You’re trying to fashion a future out of nothing.”

RELATED STORY: Chicago Homeless Rules: 4 Shoes, 2 Coats, 5 Blankets 

 

 

By Mark Brown, Chicago Sun-Times columnist

 

Ald. George Cardenas (12^th) says he was only trying to help the homeless when he introduced an ordinance to exempt SROs —single-room occupancy buildings — from the city’s residential landlord-tenant ordinance.

By Mirkica Popovik

About 20,000 young people at risk of homelessness in Illinois may be on the streets without shelter and services this winter, as the state’s budget stalemate continues in Springfield, leaving crucial social services unfunded. Advocates warn that if these programs close, they may never open again.

“Some of these programs are staying open on the hope that they will be paid someday, now they are just borrowing money, spending down reserves, but this can’t continue, programs are going to start shutting down,” said Julie Dworkin, policy director at the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless. “Once they shut down, even if funding is restored some of them might not be able to just reopen, which means that the infrastructure for helping the homeless will be lost.”

At a rally held at the Thompson Center Sept. 23, advocates argued that more than 77 percent of the organizations that provide services to homeless youth could experience program cuts or full elimination of their services as a result of the budget impasse, which started July 1. They asked Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner to end the stalemate.

Flora Koppel, a staffer at Unity Parenting and Counseling on the city’s near Southwest Side, said youth who lose access to services may “have to go back on the streets, or return to the abusive parent or partner.” She noted that many homeless youth also end up turning to prostitution in order to survive, a very real risk for any youth who lose services or shelter.

Koppel and Dworkin were just two of hundreds of service providers, homeless youth, advocates and legislators who came out against the budget impasse last week. The group stood around a box that read: “Don’t make homeless youth live in a dirty box.” The protesters urged Illinois legislators to put human lives and the future of young people ahead of collecting revenues.

State Representatives Greg Harris and Will Guzzardi, both Democrats representing Chicago, were at the rally. Harris said homelessness among youth is not a small problem. He cited statistics from a University of Illinois study that counted 21,000 homeless children in the state.

“It is just a struggle to live like this,” said Chris, a 22-year-old man living on the street. He said the only support he gets is through the state’s food stamp program, but that was cut off for him in July.

“Sometimes to be honest I have to steal the necessary things that I need, but I find it hard to get to a shower if I can’t get to a shelter. Sometimes I can’t get to the shelter because I don’t have any transportation. That in itself is just a difficult way to live. I’m hungry a lot because they are taking my Link card because there isn’t enough funding.”

The Chicago Coalition for the Homeless released a survey showing that since July 1, when the budget deadline passed without a budget:
* 36 percent of homeless youth providers have already reduced or eliminated services.
* 41 percent said they would be forced to make reductions if the situation continues.
* 64 percent of services are already spending down reserve funds to stay open.
* 67 percent said they have limited and will have to limit intake of new clients.

The coalition said that young people rely on key services such as transportation, which is being cut back. And further cuts would open a “Pandora’s box” of severe social problems for these youth, advocates said.

“The youth are not going to be able to have shelter, they’ll be faced with sleeping on the streets, there is a lot of danger and they are really open to sexual exploitation, victimization,” said Dworkin.

The coalition survey also found that when youth are unsheltered and living on the street, they are:
* Three times more likely to be forced into prostitution and twice as likely to be raped or assaulted.
* More likely to fall victim to sexual exploitation; 28 percent of youth living on the street trade sex for basic needs such as food or shelter.
* More likely to be victims of physical violence; 63 percent experienced violence while homeless
* They are not likely to have health care.

Koppel added that on top of the social cost, the financial cost to the state for taking care of unsheltered youth is much higher if they get into trouble.

Dworkin said the state would lose more money long-term by cutting social programs rather than sustaining them. For instance, Koppel stated that the annual state costs for an underage youth in the welfare system is $48,328. Taking care of them in a psychiatric hospital costs $127,000 a year, and incarcerating them in juvenile detention costs $111,000 annually.

Koppel’s program is still standing, but the math shows time is running out. In fact, the group may not be able to pay for such essentials as rent and salaries in November or December, Koppel said, which might lead to the closing of their facilities, leaving 56 of their clients on the street.

Calvin, a 22-year-old from St. Louis, has been homeless for six months and is staying at the Broadway Youth Center (BYC) in Lakeview. His parents forced him to leave the house after Calvin told them he was gay, he said.

“The BYC is also an afternoon drop-in center, they help with resources like helping you sign up for housing, for medical care,” Calvin said. “They are already struggling as it is, so any more cuts would be absolutely devastating. We wouldn’t know where to sign up for school or look for work anymore.”

Many of the homeless youth at the rally said the cuts are a sign that the state has given up on the most vulnerable groups.

“We will have to go back to sleeping on the buses, trains, railways, park benches, bus stops,” said 24-year-old Christopher, who said he was kicked out of his home and homeless for six months, residing in shelters on the South Side. “You don’t want that happening to this city full of tourists. You don’t want them to think the city is lazy, when it is not lazy, but has just given up on the people that need help the most.”

His dream is to use his talent as a dancer and a singer, but he is unable to because of his living condition. He is struggling to get a social security card and an ID. If programs that are now helping get people jobs, education and basic necessities like clean clothes shut down, he says, they will all be left lost and stuck.

The coalition said that young people rely on key services such as transportation, which is being cut back. And further cuts would open a “Pandora’s box” of severe social problems for these youth, advocates said.

Angela McClellan from the Coalition for the Homeless said giving up on youth is what makes young people hopeless, and once they lose hope they are often willing to do anything.

“They have to survive, they have to eat, that is when they go to the streets and do the things that they do,” she said. Because they have no hope, they have no goals for the future. “Half of them don’t think they are going to live past 18. Simple things like giving them new shoes, a pair of pants gives them hope,” she said. “And we wonder why they are out there killing each other on the street, because they are in a hopeless situation.”

Calvin suggests the state should consider making use of abandoned buildings for homeless shelters. “We have the space, more than enough space, but if it is not something that immediately makes our corporate leaders money, it is not of interest to them,” he said. “I feel like we have to stand up to them and show that human rights come before anything.”

“Reducing or ending these programs saves money short-term, but is extremely expensive long-term,” added Koppel. “These programs are documented to be successful, they help the youth find jobs, finish school, keep their families intact and become taxpayers.”

– Mirkica Popovik is a visiting journalism fellow at Community Media Workshop. She is in the U.S. for a four-month media fellowship as part of the Macedonian Media Leaders Program, sponsored by the U.S. State Department.

 

Listen to Maureen McKinney’s interview with CCH Policy Director Julie Dworkin.

Advocates and others gathered at the Thompson Center in downtown Chicago today to draw attention to the budget impasse’s impact on services for homeless youth.

That comes on the heels of a report from several homeless-support agencies outlining problems created for them by the budget impasse. One hundred one homeless service providers responded to a survey this August, and 90 percent said they have already had to — or will have to — deny services to people who are homeless or at risk of being on the streets. They’ve had to turn away potential clients and cut services for those who can get help. There have been staff layoffs, furloughs and cuts of entire programs.

The report was produced by organizations including the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, Housing Action Illinois and the Supportive Housing Providers Association.

According to the report, the state budget impasse is “putting people in a crisis that contributes to the homelessness: 41 percent of agencies have limited the intake of new clients and 39 percent have eliminated services for current clients.” Another 32 percent closed sites and 33 percent have eliminated programs.

By Craig Dellimore, WBBM 780 Political Editor

CHICAGO (CBS) — Homeless young people and other advocates rallied outside the Thompson Center today, crying out against cuts in social services during the budget impasse, reports WBBM Political Editor Craig Dellimore.

The crowd chanted for more revenue and Flora Koppel with Unity Parenting and Counseling argued that the state could save money by providing the average of $2,000 a year to care for a homeless teen.

“When an under-aged homeless youth or the children of a homeless parent end up using the child welfare system…the annual cost is $48,328 a year,” Koppel said. “Weigh that against less than $2,000 that the state is paying.”

State Representative Will Guzzardi (D-Chicago) said he hated coming to yet another rally like this.

“It also hurts me to hear us having to justify these services on financial grounds, to say that, ‘Oh well it’s cheaper to provide services for homeless people than to let them die in the streets,’” Guzzardi said.

He says people need to get angry.

Listen to the WBBM Newsradio report.

By Patrick Judge

Youth and staff from the Ujima Village homeless shelter were among about 75 demonstrators who rallied Wednesday morning outside the Thompson Center, calling for Gov. Bruce Rauner to end the budget stalemate.

Representatives of a dozen advocate groups said programs to help homeless youth have suffered due to the Illinois legislature’s failure to pass a budget.

The rally was organized by the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless.

“I think the state of Illinois, and Governor Rauner, and the government have many public sins to atone for today,” said Flora Koppel, executive director of Unity Parenting & Counseling Center.

“Cutting a budget, delaying a budget — that causes neglect to the most vulnerable individuals and families, including and especially homeless youth. That is something that requires atonement.”

Among other services and shelters, Unity Parenting operates the homeless shelter Ujima Village, 500 E. 37th St., which every night houses up to 24 people between the ages of 18 and 25.

Without a working budget, Unity Parenting is cut off from $500,000 in state funding — nearly 15 percent of its annual operating costs. Ujima Shelter has enough funds to last the year, but could close Dec. 31, staffers said.

“You can’t cut the food in half,” said A. Anne Holcomb, a member of Ujima Shelter staff. “We’ve cut it as far as we could cut. … We’re not King Solomon.”

According to a report prepared by the homeless coalition, the budget crisis has already forced 90 percent of the homeless agencies surveyed to deny assistance to people who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.

After the rally, four demonstrators delivered a cardboard box decorated by homeless youth to the governor’s Thompson Center office, where they shared their stories with members of the governor’s staff.

Includes Sun-Times video

By Lyndsey Layton and Emma Brown

The number of homeless children in public schools has doubled since before the recession, reaching a record national total of 1.36 million in the 2013-2014 school year, according to new federal data.

The latest homeless count, an 8 percent increase over the 2012-2013 school year, is a sign that many families continue to struggle financially even as the economy recovers from the housing collapse of 2008. And it offers a glimpse of the growing challenges that public schools face nationwide as they seek to educate an increasing number of low-income children.

The impact is profound on public schools, which struggle to try to address the needs of homeless children. Teachers often find themselves working not only to help children learn but also to clothe them, keep them clean and counsel them through problems — including stress and trauma — that interfere with classroom progress.

Many schools receive federal funds meant to help connect homeless students with support services. But that federal funding has not kept pace with the increasing need: In fiscal 2006, the Department of Education distributed $61.8 million for homeless youth programs. It had fallen slightly to $61.7 million by 2013, then increased slightly to $65 million in 2014.

Nationwide, student homelessness has increased steadily since 2009, continuing to rise even after the U.S. unemployment rate began falling and much of the country began recovering from the recession and the housing crash that helped cause it. Now, nearly 3 percent of the nation’s public school students are homeless, the data show.

“One of the things we note during recessions is that young families and kids tend to be the ones who go into poverty first, almost like a canary in a coal mine,” said Bruce Lesley, president of First Focus Campaign for Children, an advocacy group. “But also in the back end, kids are the last to recover. Because this recession was because of housing, it’s been particularly bad for kids.”

California, the most populous state, had the largest number of homeless children: more than 310,000, or 23 percent of the national total.

It was followed in descending order by New York, Texas, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, Georgia, Washington, Kentucky and Missouri. The state with the smallest total was Rhode Island, which reported 1,020 homeless students.

“It’s obviously tied to the Great Recession,” said Tina Jung, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Education.

But California’s population of homeless children fell sharply after the recession, in 2009-2010, and then rose more gradually until 2013 before spiking in 2014, according to the federal data. Student homelessness also is more prevalent there than in almost any other state: Nearly 1 in 20 children in California experienced homelessness during the 2013-2014 school year.

Barbara Duffield, director of policy and programs at the National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth, said she thinks the rise could be driven in part by the economy but also by schools getting better at identifying and counting homeless children.

“They might have had a reasonable caseload, and now they have a stack of referrals. They’re scrambling to make sure transportation is arranged, they’re coordinating clothing and school supplies with outside agencies, they’re trying to make referrals for housing if it exists,” Duffield said. “And, of course, for the classroom teacher, there are all kinds of challenges. Homeless students may have trouble focusing, there’s more transition, all sorts of things that can be destabilizing for a classroom.”

Homeless children are more likely to be diagnosed with learning disabilities, are more likely to miss school and change schools, are more likely to drop out of school than other children and score lower on standardized tests.

It is not just urban school systems that grapple with homelessness; the problem extends to rural and suburban communities, especially as the revitalization of cities has forced low-income families to look for cheaper housing elsewhere.

Sonya Shpilyuk, an English teacher at Watkins Mill High School in Maryland’s Montgomery County, just outside the District, said that she often doesn’t know which of her students are homeless, and that creates a barrier to helping them.

But she makes a Costco run every three weeks to keep her classroom stocked with healthy snacks for hungry students. And she watches for signs that students don’t have a steady place to live.

“The thing about kids who have really troublesome home lives — not just with homelessness but other things, too — is that they have this defeated look on their faces, because they’re trying, and it’s not working,” she said. “They’re tired, and they’re hungry, and it’s stressful because they don’t know where they’re going after school.”

One problem, advocates say, is that the federal department of Housing and Urban Development’s policies are geared toward chronically homeless adults, not children. For instance, HUD considers a child to be homeless — and eligible for services such as transitional housing — if he or she is living in a shelter or on the street but not always if the student is living with friends or in a motel.

“The vast majority of families and youth don’t fit the HUD definition of homeless,” Duffield said.

A bipartisan bill pending in Congress would create a consistent federal definition of homelessness and prohibit HUD from prioritizing the needs of the chronically homeless — who are typically adults — over those of children and families.

HUD officials said that complaints about the agency’s focus on chronic homelessness are based on years-old policies that have since changed to include a new emphasis on other kinds of homelessness, including among families and veterans.

And they say arguing over eligibility rules for homelessness assistance programs misses the bigger problem: There just aren’t enough resources for people in need.