美国国家公共电台 NPR--The issues that arise when federal agencies define child homelessness differently

The issues that arise when federal agencies define child homelessness differently

Transcript¹

The U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development define homelessness differently. This has serious consequences for children.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

According to the federal Department of Education, there are around a million homeless children in the U.S. The Department of Housing and Urban Development counts far fewer. That's because the agencies have different definitions of what makes a child homeless. And as Grant Blankenship of Georgia Public Broadcasting explains, that has real consequences.

(SOUNDBITE OF KNOCKING ON DOOR)

JUNE O'NEAL: Ms. Gibson.

GRANT BLANKENSHIP, BYLINE²: It's mid-morning on a weekday when there's a rap on Keisha Gibson's motel room door.

O'NEAL: Hey, babies. Yeah, I figured y'all were sleeping spreaded (ph) out on the floor, so.

BLANKENSHIP: That's June O'Neal, longtime advocate for educating at-risk youth in Macon.

O'NEAL: I figured that you needed some linens³ up here, and I got some food in the car for you too.

KEISHA GIBSON: OK.

BLANKENSHIP: Gibson is living in this one room with her seven children.

GIBSON: I got evicted⁴ from my house because I wasn't able to go back and forth⁵ to work.

BLANKENSHIP: Now, Gibson works at a fast food restaurant she can walk to. That's how she affords this motel room for $900 a month.

GIBSON: It's OK, but it's, like - it's just all of us in one space.

BLANKENSHIP: There's a technical term for how Gibson and her kids are living.

DANIELLE JONES: Doubled up.

BLANKENSHIP: That's Danielle Jones. She works with homeless students for the Bibb County School District.

JONES: So you might have three sisters living in a three bedroom and each have four or five kids each.

BLANKENSHIP: Or like Gibson, have too many people in too little space, which can be stressful. Jones says under the McKinney-Vento Act, the federal law that regulates education for the homeless, doubled up is just one of the definitions of a homeless student.

JONES: It's anyone that lacks a fixed⁶, adequate or permanent nighttime resources. So those are kids that are living in hotels, motels, shelters, campgrounds...

BLANKENSHIP: Doubled up in a motel, Gibson's kids hit the definition twice. According to federal data, being homeless slashes⁷ their odds⁸ of graduating high school by some 30 percentage points compared to the national average. They're also less likely to graduate than students who also struggle financially, but who have a stable address. And so that's why McKinney-Vento requires public school districts across the country to offer special support.

JONES: School supplies, uniforms.

BLANKENSHIP: There's tutoring and special transportation, all aimed at keeping kids enrolled⁹ in the same school even as they move from place to place. But McKinney-Vento does not allow schools to help students with arguably their most basic need - housing. That falls to the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development - HUD - and their Rapid Rehousing program. It provides rent for up to six months. But remember Danielle Jones at Bibb schools and her definition of a homeless child?

JONES: People that are doubled up.

BLANKENSHIP: That's not homeless to HUD. Carlton Williams oversees¹⁰ HUD's rapid rehousing in Macon. He says HUD has its own definition.

CARLTON WILLIAMS: Meaning you're literally¹¹ homeless with no roof over your head or you're running from domestic violence.

BLANKENSHIP: So right now, Keisha Gibson, living in a motel, isn't homeless according to HUD, and so neither are her kids. In the past, she was and did qualify for housing aid from HUD. When she was evicted last year, she applied¹² again but was turned away despite her kids' needs. These are reasons only a tiny fraction of the kids Danielle Jones with Bibb schools knows are homeless receive housing support. And nationally, while HUD says there are about 81,000 homeless children, the Department of Education counts over a million. Barbara Duffield is executive director of Schoolhouse Connection, a D.C.-based nonprofit aimed at educating homeless youth.

BARBARA DUFFIELD: Any homelessness policy that's based only on adults and not taking into consideration how children experience homelessness and the harm it does is ultimately failing the entire family.

BLANKENSHIP: So Duffield would like to change the policy and align¹³ HUD's definition with the Department of Education's. Last year, two bills in Congress would have done that. Despite bipartisan sponsorship, neither version of the Homeless Children and Youth Act got out of committee. Meanwhile, some homeless advocates outside of education say that adding hundreds of thousands of people to HUD's rolls without more funding may not accomplish much.

For NPR News, I'm Grant Blankenship in Macon, Ga.

(SOUNDBITE OF VITAMIN STRING QUARTET'S "THANK U, NEXT")

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 linens   

n.亚麻布( linen的名词复数 )；家庭日用织品

参考例句：

• All linens and towels are provided. 提供全套日用织品和毛巾。 来自辞典例句
• Linen, Table Linens, Chair Covers, Bed and Bath Linens. Linen. 采购产品亚麻布，亚麻布，椅子套子，床和沭浴亚麻布。 来自互联网

4 evicted   

v.（依法从房屋里或土地上）驱逐，赶出( evict的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• A number of tenants have been evicted for not paying the rent. 许多房客因不付房租被赶了出来。
• They had evicted their tenants for non-payment of rent. 他们赶走了未交房租的房客。

5 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

6 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

7 slashes   

n.（用刀等）砍( slash的名词复数 )；（长而窄的）伤口；斜杠；撒尿v.挥砍( slash的第三人称单数 )；鞭打；割破；削减

参考例句：

• They report substantial slashes in this year's defense outlays. 他们报道今年度国防经费的大量削减。 来自辞典例句
• Inmates suffered injuries ranging from stab wounds and slashes to head trauma. 囚犯们有的被刺伤，有的被砍伤，而有的头部首创，伤势不一而足。 来自互联网

8 odds   

n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别

参考例句：

• The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
• Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？

9 enrolled   

adj.入学登记了的v.[亦作enrol]( enroll的过去式和过去分词 )；登记，招收，使入伍（或入会、入学等），参加，成为成员；记入名册；卷起，包起

参考例句：

• They have been studying hard from the moment they enrolled. 从入学时起，他们就一直努力学习。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He enrolled with an employment agency for a teaching position. 他在职业介绍所登了记以谋求一个教师的职位。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 oversees   

v.监督，监视( oversee的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• She oversees both the research and the manufacturing departments. 她既监督研究部门又监督生产部门。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Department of Education oversees the federal programs dealing with education. 教育部监管处理教育的联邦程序。 来自互联网

11 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

12 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

13 align   

vt.使成一线，结盟，调节；vi.成一线，结盟

参考例句：

• Align the ruler and the middle of the paper.使尺子与纸张的中部成一条直线。
• There are signs that the prime minister is aligning himself with the liberals.有迹象表明首相正在与自由党人结盟。