Chapin Hall
Four young people sitting down in a conference room to talk about their experience as homeless unaccompanied youth.
Lee V. Gaines / Illinois Newsroom

Schools Can Help Homeless Kids — But Only If They Find Them

Melissa Esparza is one of about 700,000 teens — or one in 30 high schoolers aged 13 to 17 — who experience unaccompanied homelessness in a given year, according to data from Chapin Hall, a policy and research center based at the University of Chicago. The center also estimates that one in 30 kids between 13 and 17 experience unaccompanied homelessness — meaning they lack both a stable residence and a parent or guardian.

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