When her mother was jailed, a 16-year-old high school student described stepping up to become the head of household, throwing house parties to pay the rent and feed her younger brothers and sisters. It ended when her landlord called the police and the younger kids were placed in foster care.

Another student recalled his turbulent middle-school years sleeping on a cousin’s couch. The relative, who drank heavily and used drugs, sometimes kicked his family of five out onto the street at 2 a.m., leaving him sleep-deprived and lacking access to basic hygiene products when the morning school bell rang.

At the request of St. Paul City Council Members Jane Prince and Mitra Nelson, the council Wednesday held a public hearing and policy session on youth and family homelessness. It drew on personal accounts from children — as well as parents of students — who attend St. Paul Public Schools as well as several charter schools, such as Face to Face Academy and the High School for the Recording Arts.

Their stories of bouncing from shelter to shelter and relative to relative illustrate what officials say is a growing problem.

“She’s moved between three different schools,” said Nadia Jackson-McClintock, crying as she described how her 17-year-old daughter has sometimes slept with her in vehicles. “I’ve lived in my car. I’ve slept on the side of West River Parkway.”

Tenecia Johnson, a homeless services supervisor with Ramsey County, said there are more than 2,000 homeless children in the St. Paul Public Schools, many of them “couch hoppers” who stay with different friends and relatives as opportunities arise. Those numbers include 27 unaccompanied minors.

Their stays are often fleeting. If a relative pays their rent using federal Section 8 vouchers, they’re not allowed to host a visitor for more than 14 days at a time.

This high school student and his family of 5 stayed with a cousin in middle school — a hard drinker and drug user who sometimes kicked them out at 2 a.m. He’d come into school sleep-deprived and lacking access to basic hygiene products. Future placements were also unstable. pic.twitter.com/Q8OIrqWEgR — FredMelo, Reporter (@FrederickMelo) May 1, 2019

Advocates said more has to be done for families with children. When it comes to finding emergency housing, 611 emergency shelter beds in Ramsey County are dedicated to single adults, the population most heavily targeted by homeless-outreach services such as RUSH and Outside/In.

The county is home to 138 emergency shelter beds reserved for families, of which 105 beds are targeted to families with children.

Despite those resources, weekly waiting lists for emergency family shelter have grown more than fourfold in just a few years, from six families in 2015 to 29 families in 2018. Meanwhile, average wait times span 32 to 44 days, Johnson said.

MORE DEMAND FOR SECURITY DEPOSITS, BACKGROUND CHECKS

Losing stable housing is difficult enough on its own, but the families who shared their stories Wednesday said their situations have been made even more challenging by escalating rents and increasingly demanding rental criteria such as security deposits, credit scoring and background checks.

And the impact of homelessness is magnified on young people, who may show up to school ill-prepared.

These moms and students have been homeless while kids were in the St. Paul Public Schools. Seen here with their caseworkers, city council members and advocates. pic.twitter.com/tsdsORaenA — FredMelo, Reporter (@FrederickMelo) May 1, 2019

Nancy Jane Bitenc, an advocate for children in St. Paul Public Schools, and Khalique Rogers, a youth mentor and life skills coach who was once a homeless student himself, asked city council members to consider creating a task force focused on children facing homelessness.

That suggestion was echoed by members of Interfaith Action’s Project Home and St. Paul Public Schools’ Project Reach.

Other recommendations include dedicating more emergency shelter for children, creating incentives to encourage landlords to rent to families and youth, and strengthening renters’ rights through more legal protections — an area council members have pledged to study this year. Related Articles St. Paul City Council approves $600,000 charge for downtown improvement district

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Chrishon “Chrissy” Jones said that as a 17-year-old single mom living in Chicago, she stayed with different men just to keep a roof over her head.

While living more recently at a family shelter in Maplewood, she said, she encountered shelter staff who seemed more exasperated than dedicated to helping others.

Now 26 and a mother of three kids, Jones finally signed her own lease last month for an apartment in downtown St. Paul — her first shot at stability in a long while.

“The teens, they need more,” Jones said. “It’s not even just housing. They need more mentors. My parents were, ‘You are grown. You did this. You figure it out.'”