dilemmas of doubled-up homelessness

Much has been written about the school-related struggles of sheltered homeless families and students, but those who are in doubled-up conditions are also of great concern. Doubled-up settings provide families with few cues about how to access or mobilize educational resources (such as those afforded by the McKinney-Vento Act) and, by nature of their out-of-the-system statuses, can complicate schools’ efforts to identify and serve them. This is especially relevant considering Lin’s (2000) finding that women, African Americans, and those who are poor—all of whom are significantly overrepresented among the homeless—are most likely to have networks that are “resource-poor” and devoid of institutional support. They need connections to school resources and relationships and often do not receive them in doubled-up settings.