Housing & Homelessness

More than one million K-12 students in America are homeless today. Whether that means sleeping in a shelter or crashing on a family friend’s couch, homelessness has disastrous consequences for every aspect of a child’s life – health, nutrition, education. In fact, every time a child is forced to move, it has the same impact on educational progress as missing a month of school. But federal agencies don’t even have a uniform definition of “homeless” for children. First Focus advocates an honest assessment of the family homelessness problem in America and a renewed federal commitment to ensure that no American spends his or her childhood homeless.
Resources
The Promises We Must Make to Our Children: Recommendations to the Biden-Harris Transition Team
| January 4, 2021 |
The kids are not alright. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic and economic recession, we were failing our kids on a whole range of domestic …
Letter: Urgent request to extend 2020 Census deadline
Bruce Lesley | October 15, 2020 |
First Focus Campaign for Children sent the following letter to Senate leadership with an urgent request to include extended deadlines for 2020 Census processing …
Key Stats on the Effect of COVID-19 on Kids
Aubrey Edwards-Luce, Averi Pakulis, Cara Baldari, Carrie Fitzgerald, Christopher Towner, Conor Sasner, Kathy Saco, Michelle Dallafior, Miriam Abaya, Olivia Gomez | October 12, 2020 |
Updated on October 12, 2020 The COVID-19 pandemic is doing more than exposing the racial, ethnic, and economic disparities existing in our society; it …
Letter: In support of the Legal Assistance to Prevent Evictions Act (S. 3305|H.R. 5884)
Bruce Lesley | September 23, 2020 |
First Focus Campaign for Children sent the following letter to the lead sponsors of the Legal Assistance to Prevent Evictions Act (S. 3305|H.R. 5884), …
Congress Must Act Quickly to Pass Additional Relief for Struggling Children and Families
Aubrey Edwards-Luce, Averi Pakulis, Bruce Lesley, Cara Baldari, Carrie Fitzgerald, Christopher Towner, Conor Sasner, Michelle Dallafior, Olivia Gomez | August 10, 2020 |
Given recent spikes in COVID-19 caseloads, an economic crisis that continues to deepen, and an upcoming school year faced with daunting challenges, it is …
Letter: We must ensure that this historic public health pandemic does not threaten our children’s future
Aubrey Edwards-Luce, Averi Pakulis, Bruce Lesley, Cara Baldari, Carrie Fitzgerald, Christopher Towner, Conor Sasner, Michelle Dallafior, Olivia Gomez | August 10, 2020 |
First Focus Campaign for Children sent the following letter to Congressional leaders in both houses with a set of recommendations to address the needs …
How to protect children experiencing hunger & homelessness in the wake of COVID-19
Bruce Lesley, Cara Baldari | May 4, 2020 |
Every facet of the lives of children and families are being disrupted during this historic public health and economic crisis. Unfortunately, both their short-term …
Letter: Correct the Inequities in COVID-19 Response
Bruce Lesley | April 20, 2020 |
First Focus Campaign for Children sent the following letter to Congressional leaders in both houses with a set of recommendations to address the needs …
Kids & COVID-19: Resource Hub
First Focus Campaign for Children | April 16, 2020 |
The impact on children from COVID-19 is immense. It is also variable and complicated. Every facet of the lives of children and families are …
Statement: Senate package good first step for kids but children need more robust measures
Michele Kayal | March 26, 2020 |
We commend Senate lawmakers’ unanimous passage of the $2 trillion coronavirus emergency bill, and even more, for using it to offer relief to America’s …