Reminder From Lawmakers: Thousands Of Youth In W.Va. Are Homeless

Families across America will soon head home for the holidays. But thousands of children and teens in West Virginia and across the nation have no place to call home. 

November could soon be known as National Homeless Children and Youth Awareness Month, the result of a bipartisan resolution introduced by Sen. Joe Manchin, I-W.Va., and others. 

More than 1.4 million students in America were homeless at some point in the last school year.  That figure includes an estimated 13,530 students in West Virginia, according to the Department of Education. 

“Every child deserves a roof over their head and a warm, safe place to sleep at night. …It is more important than ever that we work together to address this heartbreaking issue. I’m proud to lead my bipartisan colleagues in designating November 2024 as National Homeless Children and Youth Awareness Month to highlight the need for more action,” Manchin said in a press release.

Kelli Caseman is the executive director of Think Kids, a youth advocacy nonprofit in West Virginia. She suspects the real number of homeless youth in West Virginia is even higher.

“Certainly, poverty plays a big role. And then the addiction problem in our state, substance use disorder, has not gone away,” Caseman said.” And so you see a number of kids that wind up being transitioned from family member to family member, from house to house. I certainly hear from school staff frequently that they have students that are couch surfers.” 

Prevention programs try to help families before they’re in crisis. But resources that are plentiful in metropolitan areas can be scarce or non-existent for rural communities. 

“We get this image of these kids and these families, if they just did everything right, then they would have a more stable environment,” Caseman said. “But there are certainly hundreds of thousands of families in West Virginia that are working hard and diligently to try and keep their family in a stable environment, [to] stay working full time. But things happen, and quite quickly one can become homeless.” 

As a first step, Caseman said the public can learn about resources in their areas – whether that’s through school-based health centers, shelters, churches or charitable organizations. Knowing what resources are available makes it easier to identify – and, eventually, fill – the gaps.