By Naomi Spencer wsws.org 2 September 2015 Kentucky leads the US in the rate of child homelessness, according to 2013-14 data from the federal Department of Education. Over 31,000 children, nearly 5 percent of the state’s public school students, are living in a homeless shelter, motel or campground, car, outside, or staying with relatives or friends. The number is far higher than the 17,716 homeless Kentucky children reported in the 2006-07 school year, and parallels national trends in the years since the 2008 recession. Across the US, some 2.5 million children were homeless at some point in 2013, according to the National Center on Family Homelessness—nearly double the number counted by the Education Department in 2006-07. In Eastern Kentucky the rate is far higher, with five counties registering child homelessness rates of 20 percent or more. Harlan County, once a major coal mining center, reports a child homelessness rate of over 26 percent. (A county-by-county interactive map is available via the Lexington Herald-Leader special report, “ School of hardest knocks: Kentucky has more than 30,000 homeless students ”). Of Harlan County’s 4,788 students, 1,255 have no permanent home. The county’s per capita income is $16,257, according to the latest available Census Bureau data, and the official poverty rate is 31.3 percent. Rowan County, while relatively better off due to the presence of Morehead State University and a large medic
from Breaking News http://ift.tt/1JRCAjZ
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