On July 22, 1987, President Ronald Reagan signed the McKinney Homeless Assistance Act (now known as the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act) into law and was later reauthorized by the No Child Left Behind Act in 2001 This act establishes several programs to provide essential services to homeless people, including emergency shelter, temporary housing, job training, primary health care, education, and permanent housing. This policy analysis will focus specifically on Title VII-B of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, which authorizes the federal program for the education of homeless children and youth, and its attempt to remove barriers to public education faced by homeless children and young people. Scope of the ProblemAccording to the National Coalition of the Homeless (2007), families with children are among the fastest growing segments of the homeless population (p. 1). The Institute for Children and Poverty (2004) estimated that approximately 1.35 million children are at risk of becoming homeless over the course of a year in the United States. Homelessness has a devastating impact on all aspects of children and young people's lives, including their educational opportunities. Residency requirements, guardianship requirements, delays in transferring school records, lack of transportation, and lack of vaccination records often prevent homeless children from enrolling in school. In 1987, Congress established Title VII-B of the McKinney-Vento Act, the Education of Homeless Children and Youth (EHCY) program, in response to reports that only 57 percent of homeless children were enrolled in school (NCH, 2007). In addition to difficulties enrolling in school, the high mobility associated with homelessness also… halfway through the paper… access to emergency shelter and transitional housing programs over the course of a year (as cited in NCH, 2009) Meanwhile, 71% of responding cities reported an increase in the number of families with children accessing emergency shelters. Over 42% of those entering emergency shelters are families, and on average, these families stay in emergency shelters for 70 days (as cited in NCH, 2009). Alternative policies that aim to provide more accessible housing options and increased preventative support services should be implemented in an effort to prevent the causes of homelessness rather than address the symptoms associated with it. Homelessness, including its devastating impact on the educational outcomes of children and youth, will not end until policymakers and society at large begin to take a deeper look at these structural and root causes of homelessness that impact our company..