At 15, he is defending his home – and struggling to stay in school

“Housing is the biggest reason kids aren’t going to school or we can’t find them”

“Time is running out on high school, yet millions of students aren’t showing up to class every day. When they do make it, untold numbers are so consumed with their troubles that they struggle to learn. Others have disappeared from school altogether.”

While this story discusses a family in California, it is important to realize that there are Florida children experiencing the same circumstances. According to the Florida 2022 Rental Market Study published by Florida Housing Corporation and the Shimberg Center for Housing Studies, an estimated 26,284 individuals are homeless in Florida. This includes 20,344 sheltered and unsheltered individuals and 5,940 unaccompanied youth doubled up with others and in hotels and motels. Additionally, an estimated 34,591 families with children are homeless. This includes 2,294 sheltered and unsheltered families and 32,297 families doubled up with others and in hotels and motels.

These are mostly working families. Renters at all income levels participate in the workforce, including most households with incomes above 30 percent of AMI. Seventy-three percent of renter households include at least one person employed outside the home. Most of the rest are households are all adults age 65 or older, have disabilities, or both.

Florida has only 26 affordable and available rental units for every 100 households with incomes of 0-30 percent of AMI, a deficit of 323,219 units. So, there are plenty of opportunities to work on addressing this housing crisis that will have a lifelong impact on the children of Florida.

The Housing Leadership Council of Tampa Bay recognizes the long-term economic danger of ignoring these challenges faced by these families and their children. No child’s zip code should dictate their future, and the business community can lead efforts to change those outcomes.

As part of the Florida Chamber of Chamber’s Florida 2030 Blueprint, the goal of the Florida Prosperity Project is to cut Florida’s childhood poverty in half over the next decade – that’s nearly 382,000 kids. To do this, the Florida Prosperity Project identified 10 root causes of poverty and their unique impact on each one of Florida’s 983 zip codes.  The key to success will be the willingness of Florida’s business leaders to leverage best practices and collectively impact their communities.

To take a stand on cutting childhood poverty in the Tampa Bay region, the Housing Leadership Council of Tampa Bay is looking for partners to combat several housing related root causes of poverty:

• Lack of employment opportunities
• Lack of quality in education & workforce development
• Unaffordable and/or unattainable housing
• Insufficient transportation options
• Disproportionate health access and outcomes
• Lack of consistent access to nutritionally adequate and safe foods
• Inaccessible & unaffordable childcare
• Unsafe environments
• Imbalanced outcomes in the criminal justice system
• Lack of recognition and access within a community

The Housing Leadership Council of Tampa Bay is collaborating with public and private businesses and organizations to address lack of access to safe and secure housing impacting our communities. It is readily clear that unaffordable and/or unattainable housing is a significant risk to children, families, seniors, and our residents with disabilities. Building connected sustainable affordable and attainable housing is critical to the economic success of the Tampa Bay region. If you wish to participate and/or support this effort in the Tampa Bay Region, visit our Partnership page to learn how.

https://projects.apnews.com/features/2023/missing-students-housing/index.html