Homeless student population increasing in Southern Utah

Written by Nick Yamashita
December 31, 2022

ST. GEORGE — Washington County School District Support Services Coordinator and Homeless Liaison Mike Carr said recently that many residents have been feeling the financial crunch of inflation recently in Southern Utah. And over 600 students are now classified as homeless.

Homeless young man, location unknown, Nov. 19, 2019, for representative purposes only | Photo by Guillermo Garcia via Scopio, St. George News

Of the 33,074 students enrolled in the Washington County School District, Carr said 626 are considered homeless as of Dec. 1, which is 1.89% of the total student body.

Carr said that is up from 431 in September.

This number further breaks down to 334 male students and 292 female students.

According to the U.S. Department of Education and the National Center for Homeless Education, the 1.89% homeless student rate in Washington County is higher than the state average of 1.5%.

Iron County School District reported only current homeless students and their relative grade levels. Iron County School District Communications and Foundation Coordinator Shauna Lund said they currently have a total of 232 students who qualify as homeless, which is less than 1% of the student body.

However, Iron County has seen a small increase this year since September but has had a huge improvement since last year.

“There were over 400 homeless students at one point last school year,” Lund said.

Washington County has 60 schools, plus four permanent preschool buildings with preschool classrooms in almost all of its elementary schools. Iron County has 18 schools and three preschools.

The National Center for Homeless Education also reported for 2018-2021, the national average of homeless students is 2.2% of students enrolled in public schools.

Breakdown by grade

According to the statistics from the reports released by Washington County School District, they have seen more students in homeless situations on opposite ends of the spectrum than students from all other grades. Most homeless students are in kindergarten, with eighth graders right behind.

Bar chart showing the homeless stats per grade for Iron County School District, Cedar City, Utah, Dec. 26, 2022 | Chart courtesy of Iron County School District, St. George News / Cedar City News

Kindergartners started out the school year with 61 but currently sit at 75. There were 39 homeless eighth graders on Sept. 1, which increased to 58 on Dec. 1.

Twelfth graders came in first in the unaccompanied homeless category, meaning they do not reside with either parent. The numbers jumped from 3 in September to 12 in December.

As for the biggest increases in homeless rates, seventh grade homeless numbers doubled, jumping from 25 to 50 students, while 11th graders came in second, increasing from 25 to 46. Fourth grade saw the least amount of increase, 30 to 34.

Iron County similarly saw an increase in homeless kindergartners, with 22 currently classified as homeless. However, 35 third grade students and 29 first grade students are homeless.

Breakdown by race

Washington County School District further broke down the homeless problem by race, while Iron County did not.
The biggest increases by percentage in homelessness in Washington County was seen among Native American and Pacific Islanders. Native Americans jumped to 5.24%, with Pacific Islanders at 4.83%. However, most homeless students are white, with 320 students. Since September, this was an increase of 99 white students in Washington County.
However, while white children may have the most homeless in quantity; they are the lowest in percentage at 1.03%. African- Americans were second lowest in percentage at 1.15%.
Living situation
There has been a surprising increase of homeless students living in motels or hotels, St. George, Utah, Dec. 26, 2022 | Photo courtesy of Adobe stock for representative purposes only, St. George News
According to the end of the 2021-22 school year, most homeless students, 79%, live with other family or families.
A surprising factor to the district was that the second most common type of place of residence for homeless students was in motels or hotels, 10.1%.
The other situations and percentages are shelters (5.7%), camping (3.7%) and inadequate (0.8%.) Inadequate housing means housing is designated as having severe or moderate physical problems or being on the street. There is a small increase presently.
Assistance available through schools and local resources

The first Federal law to directly impact the education of students experiencing homelessness was enacted in 1987 as part of the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act.

According to the National Center for Homeless Education, “the McKinney Act aims to ensure that children and youth experiencing homelessness can enroll in school without barriers.”

Through this law, the district can get funds through grants and subgrants, which provide resources to help students without homes.

“We have 23 of our 50 schools with 40% or higher of our students qualifying for free lunch,” Carr said. “Twelve of our schools are considered Title I schools and receive extra funds, staff, computers and supplies for having 54% or higher free lunch counts.”

As for some other resources, food assistance is provided by three nonprofits: Utah Food Bank, Tan’s Treats, and Neighborhood Connection. All three nonprofits provide services to 32 schools in Washington County.

The Switchpoint Community Resource Center, St. George, Utah, Oct. 14, 2021 | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News

St. George City Councilman Jimmie Hughes sits on the board for the Switchpoint Resource Center, which provides shelter for the homeless, assistance in getting welfare set up, and other resources.

Another local resource, specifically for teenagers who are homeless, is Youth Futures which just started this last summer locally.

Hughes said he has noticed an increase in occupants at the center but still remains confident that the center has many resources and knowledge to help people escape the homeless label.

“No matter what, if you find yourself with no place to stay,” Hughes said. “Come in and get help. We have so much to offer and help out with your situation. We help you get stable in life.”

Carr agreed with Hughes on resources being available for those who have come upon hard times in life. He quoted Helen Keller to reemphasize what Hughes said.

“Alone, we can do so little. Together, we can do so much,” Carr said.

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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2022, all rights reserved.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Nick Yamashita has extensive experience reporting for small town media, covering a variety of subjects and events for The Virgin River Times and The Progress in Southern Nevada. Before a career in journalism, he worked a variety of jobs in criminal justice systems. Yamashita holds a bachelor's degree in criminal justice and a master's degree in interdisciplinary studies from Southern Utah University. He is an award-winning photographer and writer. He has been published in scholarly articles and poetry compilations. In his spare time, he practices and teaches martial arts.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @STGnews

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