Bringing Families Home

Every child deserves a safe, warm home every night of the year. 

This is not the reality for more than 30,000 kids in North Carolina.

Families are forced to call a friend’s couch, a shelter, or even their family car home for the night. This is an uncomfortable reality for young children experiencing homelessness. Families with young children deserve an easier path to secure, stable housing options. 

When we think of homelessness, we don’t think of babies and young children. Yet, in our state, someone’s highest chance of experiencing homelessness is when they are an infant. Babies and toddlers deserve better. They need the love of our community to find them a home. 

It’s time to forget what we think we know about children experiencing homelessness and step up for families. 

• Approximately 1.3 million children under age 6 experience homelessness each year in the United States.
• Families with children account for an estimated 30 to 40% of the nation’s homeless population.
• Young mothers are hardest hit. Female-headed families with no spouse make up 67% of low-income families (living below 100% of poverty) with children under age 6 in North Carolina.
• Nearly 50% of children living in homeless shelters are 5 years old or younger, a problem for families, communities, states and our country.

All our infants, toddlers, and preschool kids must have safe, secure homes. Homelessness at any age can have devastating effects. Young children are particularly susceptible to the long-term impacts of homelessness because their brains are rapidly developing. Being homeless, even for a short while, can:

• Jeopardize health and early childhood development
• Create unique barriers to participating in early care and education
• Create a higher risk for abuse, neglect, violence, parental substance abuse and other traumatic experiences

Half of all children under 6 in North Carolina live in households at risk of becoming homeless. As a result, homelessness is often closer than families know.

• Almost 1 in 2 of all children 6 and younger in North Carolina live in at-risk households. 48% of children under 6 live in families under the 200% poverty level – the threshold that allows a family to meet basic needs for housing, food, and other necessities. 
• In North Carolina, approximately 250,000 families are in the risk zone – 709,254 young children under 6 live in 500,261 families.

Ending homelessness is possible, but we must make it an even playing field for families with young children. In our state, safety has become unaffordable. Every community across the state has an unstable, ever-increasing housing market which leaves families needing a soft place to land.

• 26% of low-income families with children under age 6 in North Carolina moved at least once in the past year compared to 15% of all households.
• Nearly 4 out of 5 families (79%) with children under age 6 are renters.
• 1 in 5 families in North Carolina is at risk of becoming homeless every month. In addition, 214,000 (20%) of families with children aged ever-increasingly have little or no confidence in their ability to pay their next rent or mortgage payment.
• There is no easy path for these families. Only 1 in 4 eligible poor renter families receive federal housing subsidies.