Bellingham’s unhoused student population is rising. Here’s how the district supports them
Student and youth homelessness in America has been increasing steadily for years, with Washington and Whatcom County experiencing similar trends.
Hundreds of students experiencing homelessness are currently working to receive an education across Bellingham’s public schools, and that number is on track to continue growing.
Data indicate that students experiencing homelessness graduate at significantly lower rates than students from families with low incomes who are stably housed. Additional research shows that not completing high school is the greatest single risk factor for experiencing homelessness as a young person, according to the national nonprofit organization SchoolHouse Connection.
A look at Bellingham’s numbers
The Bellingham Public Schools District breaks down its population of students experiencing homelessness and unstable housing in two ways:
▪ It identifies unhoused students who qualify to be designated under the McKinney-Vento Education of Homeless Children and Youth Assistance Act, which provides federal funding to ensure enrollment and educational stability.
▪ It also identifies students who are considered “unaccompanied,” which means they are staying with someone who is not considered to be the student’s legal guardian. This can include students who are living with grandparents, staying with friends, staying at emergency shelters, or who may have relocated to Whatcom County from another region or country without guardianship.
During the 2022-23 school year, BPS identified 506 students — 4.3% of the student population — who qualified to be designated under McKinney-Vento, as well as 162 “unaccompanied” students.
In the following school year, BPS identified 948 students — 8.2% of the student population — who qualified to be designated under McKinney-Vento and 215 “unaccompanied” students, representing a significant uptick from the previous year.
By Jan. 9 — less than halfway through the 2024-25 school year — BPS had identified 606 students who qualify to be designated under McKinney-Vento and 137 “unaccompanied” students.
“By this time last year, we were not near that number,” Executive Director of Family Engagement at Bellingham Public Schools Isabel Meaker said. “They are going up big time.”
The number of Bellingham Public Schools students experiencing homelessness in the 2024-25 school year is expected to surpass the previous year’s totals, district staff told The Bellingham Herald.
“I remember when I used to see the number at 400 students and that was a big number,” Meaker said.
The district identified about 400 BPS students experiencing homelessness as recently as the 2021-22 school year, an indication that the number of unhoused students is increasing rapidly.
Bellingham Public Schools’ available student services
The McKinney-Vento Act ensures that all students experiencing homelessness have the right to:
▪ School stability. A student may remain at their “school of origin” regardless of changes to living circumstances.
▪ Immediate enrollment — even without the required registration documents.
▪ Transportation to a student’s “school of origin” if requested. The district will coordinate transportation for students to ensure they have a way to and from the school they have been attending.
▪ Free school meals.
In addition to these federal protections, Bellingham Public Schools, in partnership with the Bellingham Public Schools Foundation, provide extensive and specific support to families in need.
“We work with the families to address whatever is going on. Not just what’s happening in the classroom or at school but also what’s going on at home so we can support them,” Meaker told The Herald.
The Family Engagement team will help identify student and family needs to support them in any way necessary, district staff told The Herald. That can include providing clothing and food as well as assisting a family working their way through the local coordinated entry system to secure housing and services.
“It’s anything at all, and I feel that we are very lucky to be able to say that,” Meaker said. “It’s not a hand down. We work together. We are partners,” Meaker said.
The Bellingham Public Schools Foundation is a separate entity from the district that is 90% donor-funded by individuals in the community and corporations. The foundation helps fund efforts to support the district’s students experiencing homelessness or unstable housing.
“In terms of the support we provide, it’s super broad. That’s kind of our advantage,” foundation Executive Director Sam Gearhart said. “We don’t receive public funding so we don’t have the same restrictions the district has in terms of the kinds of things we can fund. We might give somebody a gift card to go get food. We’ve paid utilities. We’ve paid internet bills. We’ve bought clothing. It’s whatever random little things that come up.”
The foundation’s close relationship with the school district allows requests to be met immediately, according to Gearhart.
“Because we work really closely with the district, we can be super responsive. There are so many resources in the community but sometimes it takes a few days to martial those. But if the district comes to me with a need, I can probably hand over a check or gift card at that moment. If not, it’s probably within 24 hours,” Gearhart said.
Although significant budget shortfalls are a concern for the 2025-26 school year, the foundation’s private funding stream would be unaffected and Bellingham Public Schools must continue to follow the federal law to support students in accordance with the McKinney-Vento Act.
“Even if funding does go down, it will continue to be a priority to support our students identified as experiencing homelessness,” Bellingham Public Schools Communications Director Jacqueline Brawley told The Herald.
Comparing national and local data
▪ More than 1.37 million K-12 students were identified as experiencing homelessness nationwide during the 2022-23 school year, representing about 2.8% of all students enrolled in public schools, according to the National Center for Homeless Education.
▪ The total number of students identified as experiencing homelessness in the 2022-23 school year was up 14% from the previous school year and up 25% from the 2020-21 school year.
▪ The number of public school students identified as experiencing homelessness between the 2004-05 school year and the 2022-23 school year increased by 104%, with an average annual increase of about 5% during that same period.
▪ Between 2023 and 2024, Washington reported a 56 percent increase — and the largest numeric increase across the country — in the number of individuals experiencing chronic patterns of homelessness (4,295 more individuals). That increase is largely attributed to rising housing costs and a lack of affordable housing across the state.
▪ 42,436 Washington students experienced homelessness during the 2022–23 school year, representing about 3.8% of students statewide, according to 2024 data from the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction.
▪ 4% of all K-12 students in Whatcom County, a total of 972 students, met the definition of homelessness during the 2022-2023 school year, according to Whatcom County Health and Community Services 2024 Annual Update on Homelessness.
