The Doubled-Up Life:
Impacts on the
Educational Attainment
of Children and Youth
Presenter
 Vicky Dill, Ph.D.
 Senior Program Coordinator
 Texas Homeless Education Office
 1616 Guadalupe, Austin (TX) 78717
 512-475-9715
New Research
Much gratitude to Ronald E. Hallett whose
research greatly informs this work:
Educational Experiences of Hidden Homeless
Teenagers Living Doubled-Up
(Routledge, 2012)
.
“Worn Out Welcome Mat”
Thanks to Ms. Diane Nilan,
award-winning researcher and
videographer who filmed “Worn
Out Welcome Mat” chronicling the
lives of homeless Texas students
and their families living doubledup.
Most Homeless Families
Live Doubled-up
 Significant research has been done on
educating children in shelters or living on the
streets; however
 Very little research has investigated the lives
of students living in doubled-up families.
 The few studies that have been completed
find that --
Doubled-Up Housing Jeopardizes
Children’s Well-Being
 Doubling up and housing insecurity correlate reliably to
poor school performance, mental health issues, and
behavioral concerns (Children’s Healthwatch Policy Action
Brief, “Overcrowding and Frequent Moves Undermine
Children’s Health” www.childrenshealthwatch.org (November,
2011).
 “High mobility” is defined as more than 2 or 3 moves in
12 months (Ibid., p. 1)
How Did This Happen?
Okuyi’s Story
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWdl0vCJSVA
 from “Worn Out Welcome Mat”
 Some doubled-up situations support student
resilience; others do not. Which do? Why?
 Many unaccompanied youth are runaways
from doubled-up situations in which life
became intolerable due to factors outside the
youth’s control such as crowded conditions,
family conflict, abuse, neglect or a
combination of these.
Children Doubled Up Due
to Economic Hardship
 Are usually food insecure;
 In fair to poor health;
 At risk for developmental delays;
 Seriously underweight (Children’s Healthwatch Policy
Action Brief, “Overcrowding and Frequent Moves
Undermine Children’s Health”
www.childrenshealthwatch.org (November, 2011, p. 1).
A Reliable Precursor
 Over 600,000 children in
Texas live with a
grandparent http://kinshipalliance.org/texasstate-information .
 Living doubled-up with
family or friends due to
economic hardship is a
reliable precursor to total
housing loss and entry into
shelter, car, or the streets.
Frequency of Doubling-Up
 In 2007 there were 4 million doubled-up
families;
 In 2012, there were 15 million (National
Alliance, April, 2013);
 About 60-70% of all homeless students live
doubled-up (Hallett, 2012, p. 4.).
Are All Doubled-up
Students Homeless?
 Not all doubled-up situations fit the
McKinney-Vento definition of “homeless;”
 Families doubled-up due to economic hardship or
similar cause constitute about 60-80% of all
homeless school-age families.
 In order to be eligible for McKinney-Vento
services, a family must be doubled-up “due to
economic hardship or other reason”.
“They Have a Roof Over
Their Heads”
 Doubled-up families often do not think of
themselves as homeless, so go unidentified.
 The law recognizes the hardships and
educational disadvantage of doubled-up living
by including it in the definition of “homeless.”
 The challenges homeless students face when
doubled-up differ from those of unsheltered
students, students living in cars, or students in a
homeless shelter.
This Shelter May Look
Perfect to a Kid in a House
With 17 Other Kids
Research Findings
 Doubling up is often a precursor to unsheltered
living or living in a homeless shelter (Ahrentzen,
2010), increasing students’ sense of insecurity.
 About 1/3 of people living doubled-up expend
over 50% of their income on housing (ibid).
Life in Crowded Conditions
During Economic Crisis
 Limited space –
crowded conditions –
and economic crisis are
universal features of
living doubled-up due
to economic hardship.
 The effects of doubledup homelessness on the
educational outcomes
of youth vary greatly.
Doubling Up Is Often a
Result of Foreclosure
 Foreclosures spiked in 2009 and 2010 when
home prices tanked and people lost their jobs
and could not pay their mortgages.
 Now that the housing market has started
recovering, fewer Americans are losing their
properties each month.
 However, 30,056 families still lost their
housing so far this year, 2014.
Cuts in Social Services
 Safety net cuts occurred simultaneously with
families in mortgage and job loss crisis in
2007-2010.
 As a result, families with the lowest incomes
tend to share housing at the highest rates.
 Shared housing, or doubling-up with friends
or family, is not part of the iconic “American
dream;” therefore, many students hide their
housing situation.
Barriers to Access
 Students living doubled-up, nevertheless,
aspire to graduate from high school and
attain a middle class lifestyle at the same rate
as do housed students;
 And while the McKinney-Vento Act has
made a substantial improvement in school
access for many homeless students, those
who live doubled-up have specific barriers
that other students may not have.
Doubled up Youth Or
Families Fear Identification
 Fear eviction because they are living with another family
contrary to the lease agreement;
 Parents fear identification because they are afraid
authorities will take their children away;
 Students fear identification because they are afraid they
will have to change schools.
 Fear of being identified because couch-surfers may be
runaways or throwaways;
Barriers to Enrollment
 Certification of dual residency – cannot withhold
enrollment in order to obtain “Host” signatures;
 Guardianship papers or notarization – cannot
withhold enrollment for these;
 Requiring evidence of immunizations, birth certificates,
school records or evidence of withdrawal –are all
requirements that violate federal law if enrollment of a
homeless student is denied or delayed;
Challenges to School
Success: Physical
 Being unsure of one’s housing (“housing insecure”)
and doubling-up brings many risks:
 Crowded conditions promote the spread of
illnesses, both mental and physical
 Sexual abuse may occur more easily in situations
where students sleep in tight quarters with nonrelative adults and where the stakes for revealing
the abuse are high –loss of fragile housing.
Challenges to School
Success: Psychological
 Higher exposure to violence and threats may lead to
post-traumatic stress behaviors, an inability to
concentrate in school, and disruptions of normal
child development leading to low socialization and
emotional control skills.
 The effects of inter-parental or household violence
in crowded conditions can lead to behaviors of hypervigilance in school and elsewhere.
 Privacy is a well-researched, established good
(Wiemers, 2011)
Challenges to School
Success: Academic
 High mobility causes lack of continuity in instruction
and uneven credit accrual;
 Crowded sleeping conditions may cause sleep
deprivation and sleepiness in class;
 Household configuration may mean that food is
scarce; squabbles over who ate what and what
belongs to whom may occur; hoarding food is a
common characteristic of children experiencing food
insecurity;
Challenges to School
Success: Academics (cont.)
 Lack of routines and order in the home may
mean students do not have a safe place to
sleep, clean clothes, a secure place to do
homework (others may take their stuff), or
they may not have privacy of any kind.
 Chaotic conditions may impair the executive
functions of the malleable brain.
 Families often double-up without first
clarifying the rules they will follow:
Sources of Friction
 Who cleans the house?
 Who disciplines whose children? What do we
do if we have different rules for each family?
 Who cooks, if anyone? Who cleans up, if
anyone?
 Who guards the refrigerator?
 How do we prevent the spread of colds, flu,
and other air-borne illnesses?
Sources of Friction (cont.)
 When it is all right to make noise?
 Whose music do we listen to?
 Who decides the curfew for which children?
 What do we watch on TV?
 Who (all) helps pay the utilities? What if
someone takes too long a shower? Leaves the
lights on?
More Sources of Friction
 Who sleeps where? – who designates access
to beds or spots on the floor? Who watches
out for the safety of unrelated minors in
crowded sleeping conditions?
 What do we do about crying babies or
children? What if they are neglected, and I
can’t sleep?
 What do we do when we have clear rules and
guidelines and they are not followed?
Doubling Up and
Educational Attainment
Doubled up: black bar
No high school
High school only
Some college
College +*
*Weimers (2011), p. 11
Unemployment Correlates
to Doubling Up
 About twice as many doubled-up households have
one unemployed adult compared to households that
have no unemployed adults.
 The unemployment of the male head of household is
most relevant to doubling-up or, if there is no male
head of household, the employment status of the
single female head of household reliably predicts
doubling up.
Doubled-Up Rewards?
There is no research evidence that shared living
arrangements contribute to well-being.
How Do Doubled-Up
Families Live?
 Juan
 Lives in a two-bedroom apartment with eight
other people;
 Juan’s mother was too proud to accept welfare
help of any type;
 Juan dreamed about being a doctor, but thought
college applications and credit accrual could wait
until his senior year;
Meet Juan
 The two-bedroom apartment houses nine people;
 Juan sleeps in a closet that was converted to a
bedroom for him; his bed takes up the majority of the
space. A shelf at the top of the closet serves as a
dresser. The walls are covered with soccer posters.
 Household members frequently argue about choices
of music and about who is and who is not following
the rules;
 Juan’s brother, Pedro, can’t wait for Juan to move
out so he has a private sleeping place, the closet.
Juan’s House
Juan’s Day
 7:15 awakens; Mom already gone to the first of her
two jobs; Juan’s aunt yells at him because his alarm
clock woke her up.
 Juan tippy toes around the kitchen, making pancakes
so as not to awaken his uncle in the living room.
 Juan gets his brother up and then his sister who he
must accompany to school; he hurries her because
she usually causes Juan to be late for school. They
have no SoO transportation because they have not
been identified.
Juan’s Day (Cont.)
 Juan goes to all of his classes, including an ESL class
and his favorite, Chemistry. The day ends with a
soccer practice and then Juan picks up his sister and
they walk home.
 Juan lives for soccer, but an injury may keep him
from extensive play. The family is uninsured, and
injuries scare Juan’s Mom who wants him to quit.
She has never seen one of his games, not even a
championship game he starred in. His soccer coach
mentors him and frequently encourages him to apply
to college.
“Separate” Doubled-Up
Households
 Juan’s mother and her family and Juan’s sister and her
family live entirely separate in every way except
physically. They do not prepare meals together, share
rides, help the kids with homework or provide any clues
as to how to navigate for a better future. Juan doesn’t
spend much time with his cousin Pablo. They respect
each other's leftovers in the refrigerator and stay out of
each other’s way (Hallett p. 42)
 Juan had a university mentor who inspired him to
attend college and, despite having to take on a 22-hour a
weekend job when his Mom lost one of her jobs, Juan
was eventually admitted to UCLA on a 60%
scholarship.
“Worn Out Welcome Mat”
 “Family Living in Donna ISD” – Olga’s Dreams and
Dusty Roads
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDZFsjVD8l0&l
ist=PLcyzxfZMQBZIAKQZpk4vk7CqApLcm7Ex&index=4
Olga’s Life in Donna
 What did you observe about Olga’s doubled-up life?
 Food insecurity? Health problems?
 If you were the teacher or principal in these
children’s life, what would you want to know? What
would you do to help?
 How would you hope their teachers would respond?
Meet Isaac
 Doubled up as a result of a family separation, Isaac
moved with his mother into a 2-bedroom apartment
with his grandmother and aunt. Then his mother
was extradited from California to Texas where she
was incarcerated for robbery. Isaac came under child
protective services.
 After a number of unsuccessful placements, Isaac
was legally adopted by an extended family member.
Isaac’s Situation
 “Faith,” now his legal guardian, was the mother of his
cousin’s girlfriend.
 The 3- bedroom apartment where Isaac now stayed
sheltered 4 households totaling 13 people– Faith & her
two sons, a daughter, and Isaac comprised household #1;
Faith’s oldest daughter and her boyfriend and their two
children formed household #2; Ricardo, a friend Faith
met in a downtown hotel, was a 50-year old
undocumented man who worked 2 fulltime jobs and
represented household #3 along with another man,
David, and his son, 3, who composed household #4.
Isaac’s Residence (Cont.)
 Hallett describes Faith’s home in this way: “The
main room includes a kitchen and living room with
two couches, sitting perpendicular . . . Bits of food,
soiled clothes and other items cover the dingy white
tile floor. Dirty dishes, school binders, thawing meat
and noodles, among other things, teeter precariously
on the dining room table. The trash can is nearly
buried in overflowing garbage. Faith’s bedroom has
clothes and other items piled waist high with a path
to her mattress that sits on the floor . . . The tub in
the main bathroom no longer works; the toilet seat
remains attached by one screw. Everyone now shares
the master bathroom” (p. 44, Hallett).
Here is Isaac’s House
Isaac’s Day
 Begins the day by watching TV and trying to catch
the Lakers’ score; Faith makes no effort to ensure her
kids are not truant;
 Isaac cannot persuade Faith, although he tries on at
least four separate occasions, to help him enroll in
school;
 Isaac plays video games with friends and waits
patiently while some of these friends exchange drugs.
By dusk, he’s back home foraging for food.
Isaac’s History
 Isaac’s weekends involve visits with friends who supply
drugs, alcohol, blunts (weed), and parties. He gets high
on a regular basis. Faith is uninvolved in his life and is
not held accountable for his truancy from school. The
residence is plagued by fighting and conflict.
 Isaac, who is shy by nature, is not able to become
involved in the educational process. He has no idea what
the steps towards higher education or a vocational
certification would be. Isaac longed for residential
stability, but was involved in numerous moves due to
evictions for not caring for the property, loud music, or
crowded conditions.
Isaac’s Future
 Isaac’s residence was “separate” to an extreme
degree; no one from any of the 4 households helped
one another.
 Isaac’s tenacious goal of being a basketball player
was not challenged or supported by any adult who
could provide guidance. His residence with Faith
provided him no guidance but was there simply for
her financial advantage.
 At the end of the story, Isaac had only sophomore
credits, no one to guide him, and, at length, it
became apparent that he might be breaking into local
residences to support his various addictions.
Meet Kylee
When Kylee’s parents
divorced, she became
unstably housed;
Mother Lucy moved in
with her friend, Angela.
They live in a 3-bedroom
apartment in Watts, CA.
The mothers have their
own bedroom and the kids
share a room.
Kylee’s House
Kylee’s Day
 Kylee shares a bedroom with her two siblings and
two other children; they sleep in bunk beds, 4 to a
room
 Plastic bins contain each child’s belongings and
though small, the four-bunk bedroom is not strewn
with debris;
 Time and routines are established and enforced. The
mother figure who performed the traditional female
roles (child care, tutoring and enrichment) was
expected to pay less rent. Cleaning, cooking, and
childcare were worth 700-1000/month.
Kylee Finds Privacy
 Kylee rises at 5am to use the shower by herself for a
few minutes. After she showers and irons her long
hair, she awakens her sister and they awaken the
other three kids.
 Kylee, Alicia and JT are Lucy’s kids; Julio and
Monique are Angela’s kids. Angela works 2 jobs -one cleaning offices at a military base and another as
a fast food server. The 3 children only get to see their
mother several minutes a day.
The “Merged” Household
 By 7am, Lucy and Kylee have made sure everyone is
dressed, have their back packs ready, and have the
house clean. Lucy inspects the bedroom and makes
any child who has left clothes on the floor pick them
up. All the children attend school regularly and
generally are good students.
 Kylee struggles in algebra, but is passing all of her
classes. While Lucy runs errands and picks up the
other kids, she has a little “me” time.
 In “merged households,” everyone compromises in
order to support the benefit each individual member
needs.
Child Discipline in a
Sample Merged Household
 When the five children squabble, Angela generally
calls the shots and Lucy supports her. The two
roommates purchased a car together and generally
the rent is paid by Angela whose two jobs earn her
about $900 of the rent and Lucy has to come up with
$300 more.
 When asked to describe the relationship Lucy has
with Angela, Lucy says, “Angela is the man of the
house.”
Rules and Routines
 This “merged” household is characterized by rules
and routines that have been worked out over time.
 Children are expected to prepare their own uniforms,
clean up the house, are assigned individual days in
which they can shower, and are generally held
accountable for rule-breaking.
 Lucy and Angela both agreed on the need for respect
from all the kids for both adults.
Kylee’s Educational Attainment
 Like Isaac, Kylee thought she could concern herself
about college or technical training after graduation
from high school.
 She moved high schools so often, she could not even
remember all of the names of the schools she
attended.
 Behind in her credits, she did not take college
entrance examinations on time upon the advice of
her counselor who thought she needed more credits
in order to take the test.
Educators Help Kids Build
Resilience
 With just one person – a mentor, a teacher, a
counselor, a homeless liaison – or almost anyone
having their back, youth in highly mobile doubled-up
situations can survive and dream. Here’s Ira:
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7LRxYfKnGc
Opportunities to Help
Doubled-Up Students
 Educators can continue to use every avenue possible
to identify families living doubled up. Communicate
to teachers and principals that these children are
homeless and may need modifications;
 Understand that doubled-up families might benefit
from knowing that merged households tend to have
more successful students than separate households;
 Continue to advocate for supportive housing so that
all families can have a private and secure home.