Overview: The number of unhoused families with children in the US has increased sharply in recent years, with many children experiencing homelessness for the first time before the age of ten. The Department of Education defines homelessness more broadly than the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which means that thousands of families are invisible in federal data and underfunded as a result. Nonprofits like Family Promise of Riverside work to help families at risk of or currently experiencing homelessness to achieve sustainable independence through finding a place to call home and a reliable source of income. However, they face increased challenges due to funding cuts and the erosion of the social safety net.
Aryana Noroozi
The fastest-growing population experiencing homelessness in the U.S. is not made up of single adults – but children. Across the country, the number of unhoused families has sharply increased in the past several years, with many children experiencing homelessness for the first time before turning ten years old.
Like much of the state, in Riverside County, housing costs continue to outpace wages. Officials estimate that like throughout the rest of the country, families live in their cars, motels, or shared living situations that are excluded from the recorded numbers – making the actual number of homeless children even higher than what is officially recorded.
The crux of this gap is the difference between how the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Department of Education define homelessness. The Department of Education, under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, defines homelessness more broadly as families living doubled up with relatives or friends, staying in motels or cars – in other words, those lacking stable housing.
Claire Jefferson-Glipa, Executive Director of Family Promise of Riverside, explained that this distinction leaves thousands of families invisible in federal data, and underfunded as a result.
Family Promise of Riverside is part of a national nonprofit organization that is dedicated to helping families at risk of or currently experiencing homelessness. Their mission lies in empowering these families to achieve independence that is sustainable through finding a place to call home, no matter how modest.
Jefferson-Glipa explained that while HUD reported roughly 653,000 people experiencing homelessness nationwide in 2023, the Department of Education identified over 1.2 million students in public school who met the McKinney-Vento definition that same year.
“These are not apples and apples,” she said. “There’s a vast disparity in the picture that’s being painted.”
The impact extends beyond statistics.
“We rarely talk about the true problem,” Jefferson-Glipa said. “I can’t think of any person speaking about homelessness on a national stage talking about the challenge of childhood homelessness. But we know from the work that we do that those folks who are chronically homeless – the largest majority of those folks first experience homelessness under the age of 10.”
The hidden toll on youth
Children without stable housing encounter hurdles that reach far beyond shelter. The instability of being without a home disrupts education, friendships, development, and compounds mental and physical health challenges.
Jefferson-Glipa highlighted how something as seemingly insignificant as wearing the latest or even clean clothing plays into this.
“When’s the last time you got a haircut? Did you have holes in your shoes? All of those things can contribute to a child’s success…did they get to sleep last night?” she questioned.
According to America’s Promise Alliance’s 2016 report “Hidden in Plain Sight,” students experiencing homelessness are 87% more likely to drop out of school than their housed peers.
Jefferson-Glipa said that’s why Family Promise’s work focuses not only on housing, but on trauma mitigation and childhood development.
“No matter how beautiful, no matter how trauma-informed our shelter is – [living in a] shelter is harmful to children,” she said. “A home, no matter how modest, is always a better place for a child to learn and grow.”
A community-centered model
Family Promise began nearly 40 years ago as the Interfaith Hospitality Network in New Jersey. Its mission is grounded in community responsibility: helping families find stability through coordinated local partnerships, not just temporary shelter.
In Riverside, that work begins with what the organization calls “navigational support.” Families in crisis can call for referrals, information or emergency help. Staff and volunteers then work to identify immediate safe spaces and, whenever possible, divert families from entering shelter altogether.
“We have a diversion program – we call it shelter diversion – and our goal is to try to figure out, ‘where did you sleep last night, and why can’t you sleep there more?’” Jefferson-Glipa explained.
If no immediate option exists, Family Promise turns to its network of faith-based partners, transforming unused or underutilized church spaces into temporary shelter for small cohorts of families. Limiting capacity to around 25 individuals at a time allows the nonprofit to create what she describes as a “large family-style environment.”
The program’s goal is to move families from crisis to stable housing within 90 days, then provide two years of follow-up case management to ensure long-term success. Families receive navigation and support with finding employment, enrolling children in local school, and connecting with counseling, healthcare and childcare resources.
Once housed, many parents spend a large portion of their savings on deposits and utilities. Family Promise helps fill that gap with donated furniture, cookware and other essentials. They emphasize that “two suitcases do not make a home,” and host weekly art programs for youth to give children a creative outlet. The art work they create then becomes one of the first decorations in their new home.
Operating programs like Family Promise is not easy and with funding cuts, they face increased challenges. The organization runs almost entirely on individual donors and small grants.
“Our average donation is about $35 a month,” Jefferson-Glipa explained. “We have a community of folks who are willing to just give up maybe a Starbucks or two a month in order to ensure that we are here.”
Federal funding streams, she added, often exclude families who don’t meet HUD’s narrow definition of homelessness. That means organizations like Family Promise must do more with less – and depend on local generosity.
Jefferson-Glipa foresees their biggest challenges to be twofold. “The need is just great and only growing. And as the leader of this movement, being able to stand the test of time during these challenging times is a challenge,” she said.
Her comments echo a broader concern voiced by advocates nationwide: the erosion of the social safety net. Over the past decade, state and federal investments in affordable housing, childcare and social services have failed to keep pace with rising costs. According to the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies, over half of California renters allocate more than 30% of their income toward rent and for many others, it can be as much as 50%.
Community responsibility meets collective care
As the director, Jefferson-Glipa said addressing homelessness must begin with redefining community responsibility.
“We’ve made it habitual within our society to denigrate and punish the losers for being losers, while continuing to uplift the winners,” Jefferson-Glipa said. “But we all lose when children don’t reach their full potential.”
California Housing Partnership reports that the state faces a shortage of nearly one million affordable homes for low-income renters. Without major investment in both housing production and prevention programs, nonprofits like Family Promise will remain the last safety net for families in crisis.
Despite the scale of this challenge, Jefferson-Glipa remains hopeful. “
“We just find joy in caring for the most vulnerable and creating a safe space for kiddos and the people that love them,” she said. “We are working to end homelessness one family at a time…and that depends on a community of neighbors willing to give what they can so that we all can have what we need.”
Her optimism reflects a larger reality in this space: solutions to homelessness require a shift in policy and continued community involvement. Aligning federal definitions could unlock funding for thousands of families now invisible in official counts; and strengthening that social safety net could prevent others from falling through it.