The McKinney Vento Act is a federal law passed to help families who are homeless keep their children in school. It addresses educational challenges and guarantees students the right to immediate enrollment, it removes barriers and helps students "in transition" succeed in school.

The term “homeless children and youth”—

A. means individuals who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence; and

B. includes —

• Children and youth who are sharing the housing of other persons due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or a similar reason; are living in motels, hotels, trailer parks, or camping grounds due to the lack of alternative adequate accommodations; or are living in emergency or transitional shelters or are abandoned in hospitals.

• Children and youth who have a primary nighttime residence that is a public or private place not designed for or ordinarily used as regular sleeping accommodation for human beings...

• Children and youth who are living in cars, parks, public spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, bus or train stations, or similar settings.

• Migratory children who qualify as homeless; and

• Youth living on their own, living with others, runaways, or kicked out.